Schools in Tandem
by themetaduck
Summary: Four teens are transported to another dimension, but which teens are they? Which dimension were they transported to, and which one was reality? How would they know? Join a team of humans (Mostly) as they struggle to return home. I want to say there is a twist, but you may have already figured it out :) T for swearing. I fixed the problems guys... Please review.
1. The Smell of Roses

**Hey so guys this was an idea I had a little while ago. I looked it up to see who had done it before (I figured someone had), and found, of course, multiple someones had made things similar to this. None of them explored it in the same way I would have like it to though, so I decided just to write my own. Anyway I would like to say to the 8 people that continuously read my other story ****_The Power of Thought, _****thank you. I am not finished with that story, but I had this idea, and well... I wanted to write about it. So I'm just taking a short break from that to write this. Anyway I would really enjoy some reviews on my writing style, the story, the characters, the... Anything really. Just leave some reviews with questions or comments or anything else too. I really love reading about what you guys think, and the only way I can get better is by getting feedback. So without further ado here is the first chapter of whatever the hell I decide to call this.**

I sat on the hard curb waiting for my bus to come pick me up. The curb, crumbling in places from over use, was slightly less than comfortable. The road itself was covered in a sheen of slick melted snow forming together just close enough for one to see their own reflection. That one was me.

As I stared down onto the wet road I noticed the scarring that had appeared on my left cheek. Nothing too bad, but still enough for questions to be asked. _How did that- Oh yeah_, I thought. _Man, I was really hoping that was just a dream_. My day had been eventful to say the least. So eventful in fact, that I thought I had hit my head, and had just dreamed it up. Guess I was wrong. The arrival of a yellow school bus effectively derailed my train of thought.

When the hydraulic doors opened, I stepped in. I sat down in the third seat from the front, my usual seat, and waited for the bus to fill. I was usually the first one on… And the last one off. My stop was as far from the school as the bus goes, and the wait never seemed to get shorter. I checked my phone: 2:45. The seat vibrated slightly, and I looked up. A small blonde boy sat down next to me, and smiled.

"Hey Jake," I said returning the smile, "Long time no see."

"Dude, it's been a day." He said with a chuckle. "Every day we get on the same bus, and you say that same exact thing. Doesn't it ever get boring?"

"Yeah. Yeah it does." I said as I returned my phone to my pocket.

"Hey Jake! Hey Kestrel, what happened to your face?" A larger kid sat down one seat in front of us.

Yes. My name is Kestrel. Yes I am a guy. No I don't care what the name means, or what gender is usually associated with it. And before you ask, yes I have played _Splinter Cell: Conviction_.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I replied to the large olive skinned kid before me. As I breathed in I could smell the overpowering scent of fish. Then again, everybody who ate today's lunch smelled like fish so it wasn't that surprising.

"Try me," He said. Jake replied in much the same manner so I began my tale of woe and mystery.

**Third Period- Just After Lunch**

As I walked from the cafeteria to my third class of the day, I noticed something was off. Usually, I walk with some friends who either have lunch with me or meet me on the way. Today was different. The hallway I walked down to get to the stairwell every other day was completely empty. All the classrooms were dark, and not a soul was to be seen. I was alone.

That was okay though, I liked being alone at times. Not all the time, but at least some of the time. Eventually I got to the end of the hallway, and pushed open the door to the stairs. Again, empty. I was about to begin the climb up when I heard something off to my left. To my left was a door. A closed door I might add. Still it did nothing to absorb the noise.

Outside I could hear people talking loudly. Four voices. Ordinarily I wouldn't care in the least, but seeing as there had been nobody in the hallway prior, I decided to check it out. I opened the door, but was immediately thrown onto the ground. A shockwave of sorts threw me back into the stairwell, and slammed the door shut.

Before standing up, I checked my surroundings. Nothing was broken, the walls were fine, the ceiling was fine, and the door was even okay. I seemed to be okay, maybe a little shaken up, but still okay. I touched my cheek which seemed to have been scraped. Not much blood, but still enough to warrant unwanted question asking. I stood up, and opened the door once again. This time though, I was greeted by an eerie silence. No voices were speaking, there were no footsteps, there was no noise to be heard at all. I stomped on the ground to see if I had just been made deaf by the shockwave. _Nope,_ I thought, _not deaf_. I opened the door and looked outside.

Aside from a small circle of missing grass, nothing seemed to be wrong. There was no evidence of an explosion of any kind, but there was still something wrong. Something seemed out of place. I inspected the circle. Once I was close enough to see what I had thought to be a very well made circle, I could tell that it was not what I was expecting at all. About 10 feet in diameter, the circle was not just well made, it seemed almost flawless. Inhumanly flawless. Next to the circle were two sneakers that I recognized almost immediately as my friend Kaitlin's. They were slightly off shade of bright pink, and there were chunks out of the toe on each shoe. She never told me why, but I always assumed she just had big feet.

_Focus_, I willed. I had to get to class, there was no way anyone would believe this until they saw it, and I wasn't about to bring my teacher out to see a pair of shoes. She would just think I was trying to waste class time, give me a detention, and be done with it. There was no way she would subscribe to the idea I was late because of some shockwave that did no damage to the building at all.

Whatever the case I knew I would have to run if I was going to get there in time, so run I did. I backed away from the circle, turned on my heels, and ran. I got hallway to the door before I heard someone yell. I thought about turning around, but that could mean bad things. There was a large plot of missing grass that I was now running away from for some unknown reason. Whoever was calling me would have to be incredibly stupid to not think I had something to do with it. Maybe though, maybe they hadn't seen my face. Maybe they didn't know who I was, and maybe, just maybe, I could get away scott-free.

I was almost to the door when I stopped. Or rather, was stopped, by someone. In front of me stood a small girl in a red and black hoodie, and matching skirt. On her back was a… Was that a cape? _Yes. Yes it was_.

"How did you...?" I asked trying to make sense of what just happened. One second there was no one, then the next second she was there. My senses were going crazy. My eyes were struggling to find the source of her speed. Sure she was small, but you'd still need massive legs to have gone that fast. I still heard nothing as if I were in fact deaf, but I smelled something for sure. Flowers? _Yeah flowers. No. Wait yes, but more specific than that._ I was frankly surprised that I even knew what any one kind of flower smelled like compared to another, but truth be told it was a pretty obvious smell. It was roses. The air around me smelled like roses.

"Are you listening to me?" The girl asked in a tone I couldn't really read. Usually reading people wasn't that hard from tone, but this girl didn't seem to put any tone into it at all. There was no anger, no annoyance, she didn't even seem hurt. It was just a simple question. _Strange_.

"Sorry," I said, "Could you say that again?"

"I asked if you were listening to me." She replied in the same tone as before.

"Right I know that, but usually when someone says that, they said something before that the person in question wasn't listening to."

"What?"

"Let's start over. What did you say first?"

"I asked what your name is."

"Oh, that simple eh? Well I'm Kestrel, and you are?" I set this one up specifically so she couldn't ask about my name. Years of experience perfected this technique, and it never failed.

"I'm Ruby. Isn't that a girl's name?" She asked.

"Ruby? Yes I think it is." I replied. _Damn. She saw through it. This kid's good_.

She chuckled, "No. I mean your name. Isn't Kestrel a girl's name?"

I sighed. It would seem I have to say this every time I meet someone new. "Technically it's a unisex name, but yes mostly girls use it. Anyway, I have to get to class. I'm already late, and I'm really not in the mood for detention right about now." I began walking around her and through the door.

"Wait! I have more questions!" She pleaded.

I turned around. I really didn't want to just leave her there, she looked so confused. Then again, I didn't want to get a detention either. "One more question Ruby, then I'm gone."

"Okay okay one question. Uh… Did you see what happened?"

"Sorry no. I was inside when it happened." I said.

"When what happened?"

"The shock- Hey didn't I say one question? I really have to go. I'm sorry," I said as I opened the door for the last time that day.

**Bus Ride Home- After School**

"What the hell man? You didn't try to figure out what happened? That's so unlike you." Asked the larger kid in front of me.

"Yeah well… I really didn't want to get a detention today. I have things I need to do after school." I replied.

"Like what?" Asked the blonde boy to my right.

"You know, homework and stuff," I dodged the question. It seemed it was going to be that kind of day.

"And what might that stuff be, huh? I know you broke your Xbox so that can't be it."

"Yeah, I have some stuff to do. You know, stuff. Like the good stuff, but not as good."

Gabe pushed my shoulder into the seat. "Come on you can tell us. What could it possibly be that has you so worried?"

"Well, I want to figure out who that girl was, and there is still Kaitlin's shoes. I have a feeling she wouldn't just leave them there in the middle of a field for no reason." I responded.

"Wait so you told us that you weren't going to find out who she was, just so you could figure out who she was? That doesn't make sense," Gabe asked.

In reality there was more to it than that, but I really didn't feel like explaining how I was going to sneak out, and go back after dark. They didn't need to know that, right? Probably not.

"Yeah that about sums it up."

"Whatever man."

Yeah, whatever.

**The Circle- That Night**

I arrived on the scene just in time to see… Nothing. There was still no one there, and the circle was still untouched. Even the shoes were still there. I approached the circle, but stopped midway from the road. I had seen something out of the corner of my eye, and I was still on school grounds so I could get in trouble pretty easy. I looked up the large sign outside our school that read: [Small Town] High School. The symbol of a boar with silver tusks was on the front. _That was probably all it was. Just the mascot_, I thought.

I began walking again. I reached the circle with no interruptions this time, but there was still something wrong about the whole thing. It felt like I was being watched, and I really didn't enjoy that feeling. Especially at night.

I stepped into the circle, and instantly I was aware of who my watcher exactly was. "Ruby, what are you doing here?" I asked the darkness. The girl had sprinted across my view so fast my eyes couldn't keep up with her leaving only the familiar scent of rose. The same roses I had remembered smelling in our first encounter.

"I could say the same to you Kestrel. I'm here to find out what happened here… And where here is."

"Where here is? What do you mean? Do you really not know where you are?"

She came out of the shadows then. "No! I don't know where I am, what happened, or what I'm going to do!" She yelled in a higher pitched voice than I had heard in a long while.

"Hey calm down," I soothed, "Ruby are you telling me you lost your memory?"

"No. I don't know. I remember being with my team, and then there was this shockwave that threw us in different directions, and then I was here. I don't remember where here is though. Are we even in Vale?"

"Um. Where the hell is Vale?" I asked.

"Vale, you know. Like the southernmost kingdom? Do you really not know where Vale is?" She asked with a quizzical look on her face.

"Never heard of it. Southernmost kingdom of what exactly? You know what never mind. I'm more interested in the shockwave you said you felt. I felt one here too, just before that circle appeared."

"Yeah there was this bright light, then this shockwave, then I just sort of-" Her voice faltered as a bright light appeared to our left.

I staggered back, planting my left foot behind my right one. I put my arms in front of my face trying to block the light from blinding me. The drastic change from almost pitch black to bright as the sun could easily have blinded me in an instant.

This time I was ready for the shockwave, and I braced myself for the gut wrenching effect. All the good it did me… I was thrown off the ground reducing my defense to nothing. I flew back twenty feet, and landed on the back of my neck. The shockwave kind of forced me into some sort of a roll which may have saved my life, but it still hurt like hell. I landed on a mixture of limbs and back, and was able to stand up again with minimal resistance.

Looking around I noticed Ruby had landed on her feet a few yards to my right. "Are you alright?" She shouted even though we were right next to each other. The shockwave had the same deafening effect that it had had before.

"Yeah! You?" I shouted back at the girl, who nodded curtly before looking on to the new circle that had just formed next to the first one. In the center of the circle was a girl.

**Okay so there is a story with the name Kestrel, but I don't feel like explaining it just yet. Maybe later. Also I want to point out some things in this AU. There is not RWBY the show because while I want this to be realistic I also want it to be fun to write, and I really don't want to have to talk about a psuedo anime that the people come from. Another thing, all of the characters that will be in this will be popping up very close, and there is a reason they didn't all arrive together that I will explain later. They will also arrive close to the same spot Ruby did (Nothing like Emergence though I did like that story), and to top it all off this is a psuedo inverted self insert reverse-ish thing. I am drawing a lot from myself for the main character, but he is not me, and other stuff about him (Has not been explained yet!) is not the same as with me. Did that make sense? Whatever.**

**Damn, there were some other things I wanted to talk about here, but I can't think of them so I guess you got off easy this time. Anyway follow and favorite if you want to see more. Leave a review if you do or don't, just remember to tell me why. Okay so bye, and I'll see you next chapter (I'll try to get it out soonish. This one took me an hour or two split between two days so I can't guarantee anything).**


	2. Questions and not many answers

**Hey guys sorry I'm late (Don't have a schedule so I can't actually be late), but I've been busy. And sick. Busy and sick is not a good combination so I'm sorry for the short chapter, but I have stuff to do. Right now the plan is this: Publish this chapter, write chapter for TPOT, make new plan. Unfortunately I have a lot of work to do in the near future, so I can't guarantee when any of those things will be done. they will be done though...**

**I usually pride myself on witty chapter titles, but these last two have been lack luster. If you want to read good chapter titles read TPOT (The Power of Thought) my OC fic. I know I know, everyone has a fucking OC fic, but it's a thing. It got me writing, and now look at me. I have a story I'm actually interested in writing that other people are interested in reading. Anyway here's the next chapter cause I'm tired of writing, being sick, and being tired.**

Well to be honest I thought I was pretty lucky I'd thought about it before, you know? I live in America which is a pretty wealthy and safe country, and I'm one of the people still with a home, a family, and said family still has a source of income. In my heart I knew I was lucky to be where I was, and to be who I was. In reality though, I had my doubts.

I had been thrown on the ground twice now in one day by an invisible force outside my school. By the second time the thoughts going through my mind weren't about luck at all. They were more like,_ Holy Fuck! Holy Fuck! Wait did she land that? Damn. Holy Fuck!_

Yes I was too preoccupied with my own life to think about luck at a moment like this. I was confused, scared, and maybe a little intrigued. But just a little bit. After the excitement of the second shockwave I was able to survey my surroundings once again. I could hear again, and Ruby was still there. She had a confused look on her face, but I probably did too. _Right, there's a new one_, I thought to myself. The "new one" that I was referring to was the new circle of dirt that had just appeared before us. Or the new girl that had done the same. It could honestly be both, or neither.

The girl laying face up in the center of the circle was white, but wore instead her natural opposite. The contrasting effect the black had on her pale skin suited her nicely.

"Blake!" Ruby yelled to the obviously confused 'Blake.'

"Why not," I mumbled, "Why wouldn't they know each other?"

"Ruby? Where am I" Blake asked her red friend.

"I'm not sure, but he knows," Ruby said as she pointed in my direction.

Why? Now there were two of them that had no idea what was going on, and I was still in the dark too. Both figuratively and literally for once.

"Uh yeah," I said. "You're in a small coastal town in the US."

"The US? I've never heard of it," Ruby said while she helped Blake up off the ground.

"How could you not have heard of it? You're in it right now."

"What kingdom is it in?" Blake asked.

"I'm… Not sure how to answer that." I thought about my answer for a few seconds then said, "We used to be part of England. Technically there is still a 'kingdom' there, but it doesn't function as one."

"What?" She said incredulously, "Where's England?"

"Northeast."

"There's nothing to the northeast." Blake said, "Just water."

"Well that isn't tru- Wait you said you've never heard of the US?"

"No."

"Nothing to the northeast…" I said under my breath, "That would depend on where you are. There is land to the northeast from where we stand as of now. Where are you two from? Obviously you know each other, correct?"

"We're on a team together at Beacon!" Ruby said matter of factly.

"We're from Vale," Blake said.

"Vale? Beacon? I've never heard of either of those."

"How could you have never heard of Beacon? It's like… Famous." Ruby said.

"You've never heard of the US. It's also kind of… Famous, although most people wouldn't use that word specifically." I said, "You said you're on a team. What kind of team?"

"We slay monsters." Ruby said, "We're huntresses in training."

"You slay monsters? Sounds an awful lot like someone's been playing too many video games to me. Monsters, aren't exactly real. Some might argue… No, you wouldn't understand it anyway."

Ruby was about to respond, but Blake took her hand, and led her aside. I stood there awkwardly for a few moments, then they came back. "We need to get back to Beacon. People will be worried about us."

"Okay… I still have no idea where that is, and you still have no idea where you are unless I'm mistaken," I said. When she shook her head and faced the ground I continued, "There's also one other thing we haven't addressed yet."

"And what's that?" Blake asked.

"The shockwave thing that happened just before each of you arrived, and the circles on the ground. I realize that is two things, but if I'm right they both come from the same thing."

There was a silence before Ruby spoke up, "So are you gonna tell us or…"

"Well, if I didn't know any better I'd say you guys came through some sort of wormhole. Luckily I do know better. There is no way to prove that, so I'm ruling it out."

"Um, there kind of is a way to prove that," Ruby said, "We both just saw Blake appear out of nowhere. And you said I did the same thing."

"But! You know what why not? Let's go with that. You two just came from two separate wormholes, and appeared here as a result. Now what? We can't exactly just wait here for the next one to arrive. There's also no way to know you can even go the other way."

"We don't have much of a choice at the moment," Blake said, "And who said anything about we either? _You_ don't have to stay with us."

"No he's right Blake. We don't even know if this will work. We're wasting time just waiting here. What about the rest of our team? If we came through they might have to." Ruby said.

"How many of you are there?" I asked.

Blake huffed, "We came out around the same area, why wouldn't they."

"No that's just it," I said, "You didn't come out in the exact same spot as one might assume. Blake do you remember what you were doing just before you came through?"

"I was- No I don't remember anything after going to sleep last night. Then I just woke up here."

"Same here!" Ruby said. "I remember cause I was about to go to sleep, and I was really tired, then I just sorta ended up here."

"Okay great so we've established that, but what do we do now?" I asked.

"I suppose we wait to see if any more portals open up," Blake said.

"First of all they're not portals, and second of all we have no idea how long it could take for the next one to open. We don't know who might come out of it, and we don't even know if they might be from… Vale did you say?"

"Vale." Ruby affirmed.

As if on cue another wormhole opened up. This time it was a little to the right of the first one, and a lot to the right of the second one. No one was ready for the shockwave that erupted out of nowhere as the bright light flashed in the center of the new circle that had just been made. We were all thrown to the ground without warning, but having seen these before, me and Ruby were ready and got back up almost immediately. Blake was not so lucky, and was thrown backward onto the ground with a screech.

"What the hell was that?" She yelled, clearly affected by the loud noise the shockwave had made.

"Welcome to my world," I said, "I've been hit by three of-"

"Yang!" Ruby shouted with glee. Everyone knows each other. Just great. Not only was I the only one left out of the circle, my theory on other worlds also being affected had yet to prove itself. I wasn't even completely sure these three were from another world, but the thought of the rose trick Ruby had pulled made me at least consider it as a possibility. She was faster than any human I've ever even heard of. Bolt couldn't run this fast if he was being chased.

"Ruby?" What happened? I was sleeping, and then I was just here. Where is here anyway?" The new girl was wearing yellow themed clothes along with a brown motorcycle jacket. Her hair was absurdly long and flowing, but somehow she managed to keep it behind her at all times. I was frankly surprised that was even possible. Let alone after waking up in an unknown patch of dirt.

"We're not sure yet, but Blake's here, and this guy has been pretty helpful, and…" Ruby said.

The yellow girl looked up at me in the darkness. Through the dark I was still able to see her lilac colored eyes. They seemed to stare right threw me, but not like she was analyzing me. More like she was just distant, which I guess I can understand. It was a confusing time.

Blake began to stand up again, and the new girl looked over to her and smiled. I just sort of stood there feeling awkward. Then something unexpected happened, or rather I suppose I should have expected it, but I didn't. I was thrown to the ground as yet another wormhole opened up. _That's four now_, I thought. I figured I had to be around me quota at some point here.

**So this was a weird chapter that needed to be done. I needed a question chapter because well, there would be a lot of questions in a crisis like this. The next chapter will skip over a few questions, but will mention them somehow. I don't want to do any rehashing of the same questions if I can get away with it, but I ended on another cliff hanger that I will need to address. Is it the fourth member of team RWBY, or is it someone else entirely? Maybe it's my OC. Nope it will never be that. I'm not that stupid.**

**As always there is more stuff I want to talk about, but I can't think of what it is at the moment so here is the important stuff. If I get more reviews fast I may actually put in a review response section, but for now... Just thank you for reviewing and I'm glad you like it. There will be more of it. As for followers I have a lot to say that I won't say so thank you for that too. I didn't expect to get any on chapter 1. That just doesn't happen for me. I feel like I have a reputation to uphold now... Or to build now at least. As always if you have questions, or comments, or just want to talk, leave a review or message me. I will respond. Favorite and follow I guess too, but really just review. You're writers too, you have to understand how reviews make me feel. It's like a white kid sitting on santas lap.**

**Also I want to say for the future, some stuff I will write is based on things I see around me, and some isn't. For example Kestrel's family will make an appearance, but they will not be based one my family. Kestrel is based one me. The reason he is named Kestrel is because that was one option for my birth name. My parents thought I was going to be a girl at first, but honestly I think that is just a badass name. There are a lot of boys with the name, and like I said, I've played Splinter Cell: Blacklist. That guy was fuckin cool.**

**I am clearly rambling so just good night, and a happy new year to all. Or merry christmas or however that goes. All saints eve or some fucking thing like that I'm not really sure. Maybe it's Saint Patrick's day? Ooh or maybe it's Cinco de Mayo! Let's see how many cultures I can anger... I'm really tired.**


	3. A piece of mind

**Edit: This chapter was supposed to come out yesterday, but I lost power so you can add that to the list of delays.**

**Hi all! So before I get started I wanted to tell/ask you a few things.**

**For the time being I don't want to make a schedule of any kind. For the same reason this chapter took so long to come out. Life, and dea- You know, the forces of nature just hate me right now. I've been trying to write, but nothing's really come out. It's been a long... Month. Anyway now that this is out I'm not feeling to fond of the plot in it. The chapter itself is really just me trying to find Kestrel's voice, and I think I have it. His thoughts are kind of rambly at times, but he's really kind of smart. He notices minute details at all times, but there is just too much going on in his head to really go through it all. Some of this stuff is based on me... But most of it isn't. I needed a character who, while being pretty cool, has major downfalls that effect almost all possible arcs in the near future.**

**Secondly I have some questions for you guys. This is a stupid question, but it's been bugging me for a while. Can you guys see the cover photo of the story? When I preview it I can't see it, but if I go to the story properties, it's there... Another kind of important question is regarding the summary of the story. Should I make it more obvious, or keep it as it is. I wanted to make it so it could go either way (OCs going to Remnant, or RWBY coming to Earth.), but I'm not sure if I'm just turning people off from it cause it's not obvious enough. After all what's a summary to do, but tell people what the story is.**

**Okay this is getting long so I'm going to put some stuff in at the bottom if I remember. I will be responding to reviews at the bottom 'cause that's what I always do. Have fun and don't hate me for anything that happens in this chapter or the next... **

"What the hell is happening?!" I shouted into the midnight air. Four teens turned to look at me, each from a different direction. Ahead of me, I saw Ruby, standing quietly in the dark. Blake and the one in white were shouting angrily at one another. The white one stood up straight and bent at the hips when she needed to. While she was interesting, I focused on Blake's dark figure. My eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness, but black on black was still hard to see. Only her skin and infrequent white highlights in her clothes showed up.

Ruby was checking on the largest one who hadn't stood up yet. She was still sitting on the ground, rubbing her head. She was dressed in yellow… Or gold. I couldn't tell, and it didn't matter. The point is, it was bright. I could see her easily.

Ruby looked up at me, "I thought you knew."

"Why the hell would I have any idea what's happening?" I retorted. "I'm as much in the dark as you are. That is unless you know something, cause if you do, that would be great."

"No," she replied, "I don't know."

"Damnit!" I said. "Oh shit, we should get out of here actually. We're technically trespassing."

"Hmm?" Yellow asked, "Trespassing on what?"

"My school," I said, pointing at the sign behind me.

"Oh."

"Yeah, and I'm guessing you guys don't have anywhere to go do you?"

"How do we get to Beacon from here?" Yellow asked.

"Oh not again. Ruby can you explain things to your friend here? I don't want to have to explain everything four separate times."

Ruby nodded, and began explaining away. White and Blake, who had finally stopped bickering, walked over to them, and began listening in. Blake I was sure already knew, but I wasn't going to complain. I began walking to the car I had driven here, which was currently in the parking lot on the other side of the school. Actually it technically wasn't even in the parking lot. It was in overflow parking. I didn't want some janitor or someone to see a car parked at the school this late so I parked as far away as possible from view.

The school was dark, and completely empty, but I still tried to keep quiet. The air was fresh and cold on my skin, and I noticed a slight dampness to it. _Morning dew_, I thought to myself.

I enjoyed the darkness just as much as it scared me. I liked how silent and lonely it was, but I also didn't want to spend too much time in it for those same reasons. Then there was fucking Slenderman, who despite my knowing of his fakeness (It's a word), still scared the shit out of me. Combined with my knowledge of Placebo and… Well let's just say quantum physics to keep it simple, I knew that I should still be afraid. Even if he wasn't actually standing on the edge of that field over there, that didn't mean he couldn't still kill me.

I tried not to dwell on it. I might go insane I decided. _And this is why I hate the dark_, I thought. Good and bad, but let's be honest. It was mostly bad.

As I walked across the field I kept checking my surrounding for anything out of the ordinary. I didn't notice anything on my cursory glance in a circle, so I kept walking. I didn't notice the four girls sneaking up behind me at all…

I reached my car in the overflow parking space. It was a small thing. Only sat four. Two comfortably. Well, you know, "comfortably." It had two doors, and a small backseat. The interior was made of that shitty almost fuzzy but not, white leather substitute that so many car manufacturers use these days. The steering wheel was covered in dirt, and the whole thing smelled like dog. The only thing that could possibly have made it worse (Besides not working) were the two fuzzy dice hanging from the inside mirror.

It was low to the ground, and was in almost no way aerodynamic. It was truly a wonder that it moved at all. I can't even blame bad designing because I helped build it myself. A friend had an extra engine, and was an aspiring mechanic so he helped me out. When I say I designed it I mean I picked up any and all scrap metal I could find around his place, and slapped it on an old Volvo frame of some sort. The engine and battery were put in, and we were essentially done.

Unlocking my car, I attempted to open the driver's side door. Emphasis on attempted. Out of nowhere I was thrown on the ground away from my car. A white figure was opening the door to my car and climbing inside. I let out a dignified _umph_ as I landed, and as I began to get up, I noticed three other figures gathering around my car.

"Ruby?" I asked. The red clad girl looked at me and mouthed the word "sorry" before trying to get in the car. Of course it sat four, but there were only two doors. To get to the back seat you had to lower the front passenger seat and climb over it. She didn't seem to figure this out as she squeezed herself over my makeshift center console.

"Sorry man, but we got important hunter business!" The yellow girl shouted as she sat down in the passenger seat. Blake was busy getting in the back the same way Ruby had.

"We have to confiscate this vehicle for the good of Vale citizen!" Weiss shouted as she slammed the door shut.

I smiled to myself as I reached into my pocket. "Yeah okay you four have fun with that then…"

I'm not entirely sure what they were expecting to happen, but whatever it was… Didn't happen. The car's lights had turned on when the doors opened, but were shut off rather quickly as soon as they closed.

As the girls fumbled around inside the cockpit of this obviously foreign vehicle, I stood there, hands in pockets, laughing my ass off. Eventually the one in white figured out I knew something they didn't, and opened the driver's door.

"Before you ask, yes I can drive it, and no you can't." She opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off, "I was in fact going to swing around and pick you up, but I suppose that won't be necessary anymore… Anyway if you could step out of the vehicle I will drive thank you very much."

She set her feet lightly on the ground, spun ninety degrees, and stood up without a word. "Thank you," I said, "Now before I get into a cramped space with all of you, I want to know something. Tell me your names at least."

The girl in white, still standing motionless as a brick wall in absolute zero, said, "Weiss."

"Hello Weiss," I replied, "I already have met Ruby. And you're Blake correct?" I asked the girl in the passenger seat. She nodded. "So that leaves-"

"I'm Yang, Ruby's sister," she cut me off. "She didn't tell you?"

"Uhh… We didn't exactly have a lot of time to talk you know…" Ruby touched her pointer fingers together and looked up at the ceiling.

"Okay hello Yang nice to meet you. I'm Kestrel, and yes I am a guy. Weiss, if you would kindly go around to the other side of the car, I'll show you how to get into the back. Blake you'll need to step out."

She nodded silently. I got the idea she was out of her element, then again everyone was. Even me. Blake got out of the car, and Weiss walked to the other side. "Okay you see right under the seat there? There should be a lever somewhere. Just grab that, pull up, and push the back of the seat forward."

They did as they were told, and Weiss climbed into the back of the car. "Uh there's not much room back here you know…" Yang said as she tried her best to squeeze Weiss in the back.

"Oh be quiet and make room," The white girl snapped as she sat down.

"Uh Weiss I know we're friends, but I don't want to be that kind of friend," Yang said.

Weiss shrieked and stood up. Yang lifted her hand from under the girl, and laughed. "Okay so now that we've got that settled, I'll start the car using guess what? A key." I pulled the shiny key out of my pocket, showing it off to Weiss. Blake got back into her seat, and I started the car.

"You're being awfully cool about this Kestrel," Ruby said from underneath Weiss's readjusting body.

"Well, there're a couple of reasons for that Ruby. In fact I've been scared shitless this entire time. The only reason I haven't reacted terribly is because I know something you don't." I turned back to look at her, "You four appeared out of nowhere, and don't seem to remember how or why. I know that there is only one logical solution to this problem. Make it someone else's. I'm gonna drive you guys straight to the police station, and let them figure it out. After that, I'll get a good night's sleep, and probably get to school late." I sighed, "at least I'll have a good story to tell…"

**The Police Station**

"I'm sorry kid, but they don't come up in the database," a large man in white shirt and black tie told me. He had a big shiny badge that proudly read "security," but I wasn't sure what that meant. Obviously I know what security is, but why would you need to have a security guard at a police station? And why was he the one checking files? Something was off there, but I was sure I was just over thinking it.

"What does that mean? They don't exist?" I asked incredulously. This all fit in with the theory I had been working on. Operating on the assumption that the shockwaves were "real," the government must have noticed them on some satellite orbiting Jupiter. Then they were going to kidnap the girls, and run tests on them to see how they got here. It made sense now…

"Not quite. Just because we don't have info on them doesn't mean they don't exist. Maybe they do exist under different names," the security guard replied through his massive blonde mustache. Almost all of the cops in this town had those.

"I'll ask," I said and walked out of the room. The four girls were waiting in the waiting room believe it or not. It was about 1 in the morning so there was no one else there. Police stations still had to run 24/7 I guess. I mean the last time we had someone rob someone it was at midnight or around it. Tried to rob a 24/7 pharmacy. Ended up with less than he started.

"Hey do you guys go by any other names. Like birth names not nicknames or anything," I asked. When they all gave me confused glances, I said, "The only reason I ask is that you didn't show up in the database."

"What database did you use?" Weiss asked.

"I didn't ask, but probably just birth records from around here and like oh what are they called? Basically who lives where records, and you didn't show up in them. I guess that means you really aren't from around here." I said deadpanned. I didn't really believe it in my head.

"It took you that long to figure that out?" Weiss said, "I could have told you that ages ago. I'm Weiss Schnee, and I'm-"

"Yeah yeah okay. Anyway if we're still assuming the wormhole thing, then-"

Yang turned to her sister, "Wormhole thing?" I noticed and answered before the petite girl could.

"A theory on how you got here. Anyway if we assume it was a wormhole of some sort it's just as likely you are from the other side of the world as it is you're only pulling my leg."

"You still don't believe us?" Blake spoke up. "After everything that you just saw today you still don't believe we don't know where we are?"

"Well with the whole 'not in the database' thing, I don't really have much of a choice now, but I don't really have enough proof," I would have continued, but I realized something rather obvious in a rather untimely way. "Oh. Shit. I have school tomorrow. That's why you're here, and that's why I shouldn't be. Well, it was nice meeting whoever you are. Talk to the guy in the back about your options, and I'll… Not see you later. Bye!" I ran out the door and started my car. The four girls ran out behind me, but stopped as I began to drive away in the direction of my home.

"I really hope they weren't pulling my leg here…" I said to myself as I blasted down the road. As much as I can't really believe them about anything, I would really love for it to be true. It would certainly make things more interesting around here. "It's kind of like religion… No it's nothing like religion," I corrected.

**I'm back! No, I'm the writer... Of the story... How is this so hard to understand? Anyway I'm having fun writing this, but like I said it's been a tough month for my, not to mention everyone around me. I've been kind of... Review response time!**

**Well hello Chriss7221... For the record I've known you've been watching since you started watching... That was weird wasn't it? I'm wide awake at some point in the night right now so it's kind of weird to be me at the moment. Anyway about the story. The big thing I thought you mentioned was pacing, which I admit was a bit awkward in the last chapter. This happened for a reason I may or may not explain later so I'll just tell you here. Basically I thought about doing a thing where the "wormholes" opened up at the same time everyday or something along that line. This would have caused problems in the future being that I didn't want anyone else to through yet, and I couldn't realistically explain only four "wormholes" opening up in that time scale. In this case, they were specifically teleporting only team RWBY for reasons I will not explain yet... This story is as much a recreational activity as it is a way for me to explore/explain my own theories on quantum physics and such. Yes quantum physics, which I thought would be an interesting contrast to your story which tried to use theoretical physics at points. I didn't even know they were different until I looked it up, but... You know how I mentioned that parts of the character Kestrel were based on me? Yeah I tend to ramble a little bit here and there. And there and there and really just about anywhere you can possibly think of.**

**Anyway as always I've talked endlessly about needless subjects, and not much on the stuff I meant to talk about. I also forgot what said things were. See why I almost failed Freshman English? Yeah... So there was something I was supposed to put here other than a thank you I think, but I can't remember what that is right now... So thank you! Please please please leave a review, a pm, a message on , a facebook message, text me, or even fucking mail me something. By the way if you follow that path you should be able to pretty easily do all of those things.**

**Oh yeah, quantum physics. So I'm purposely not reading up on quantum physics because as I said before, these are my own theories. Not all of them are quantum physics, I just wanted to try to fit them into this neat little box they would never fit into. Either way it'll be fun. I hope you stick along for the ride even if you have no idea what I'm talking about. Especially if you have no idea what I'm talking about. Lord know's I don't. By the way I'm not religious in most ways you might think, but I really enjoy religion. That's another story. I should write that...**

**You know that time when the AN gets longer than the story, and the author just needs to cut it o-**


	4. A higher POV

**Not gonna lie this is just set up for next chapter... As a result it's kinda short. Anyway here's my schedule for now. I want to write on weekdays, but that just can't happen. That means I'll average 1-2 chapters per week for all of my stories (2). I'm gonna start working on that TPOT chapter now so you kids have fun**

**P.S. Sorry for how long the last AN's were.**

So I'd like to say I slept soundly last night, but I really didn't sleep at all. As soon as I got home, I was assaulted with questions. I may or may not have forgotten to tell my dad or my brother about anything that transpired the day before, and my phone had been dead for hours. My mom was away at the moment and wouldn't be home for a while so I wasn't risking anything that big, but my dad and brother weren't happy.

As much as he hates to admit it my big brother cares about my wellbeing. He's two years older, but doesn't act like it. I've always been the more mature one of us in terms of well, maturity I guess. I was faster toward girls, I did more research (I know, not really important), my work ethic was better, and other stuff too. He was a lot bigger though. Weighing in at 210 pounds of mostly muscle, my 6'2" brother was kind of a monster. We both took mixed martial arts and had since we were little so we could defend ourselves if need be, but he went the extra mile. Doing just about every exercise but qi fighting and levitating, he was kind of awesome in my eyes.

My dad was a big guy too, and we both took our body type from him. My brother was broader shouldered than either of us, but my dad was still bigger than I was. I was a few good inches taller, and in older age my dad got slow and fragile, but like the rest of us, he could still defend himself.

All of us had sandy brown hair, and the same color eyes. Blue that is. Albeit different shades. My mom was the only different one in our household. _She was so funny too_, I thought to myself through the loud speaking of my family. She had brown eyes, and long, wavy, matching hair. We all missed her while she was away.

Anyway I got quite the talking too, and if I hadn't needed it for school, I would have gotten my car taken away. There was still a bus, but that was a big deal. The bus came too early, luckily for me, and so the car was my only real option.

After the talking died down I admitted for everyone that we were tired, and we went to bed. Like I said, I'd like to say I slept well that night, but I can't rightly say that. I was tired of course, but I was also really, really, confused. I hadn't told my family about what really happened, and I didn't plan on it. It's not like they would have believed me anyway. I really wasn't sure what to believe myself.

As I lay in my dark room on the second floor of my house, I realized something. If the four girls weren't crazy (I'd already ruled out them lying due to… Well, the shockwaves.), then there was only one option. They were right. I flipped the switch on my desk lamp next to my bed, and sat up. I'd gotten a piece of wood, attached it to a swivel, nailed it to the wall, and made my own desk. This way I could do work stuff in bed. I thought it was ingenious, but my brother just thought it was lazy.

Anyway on my swivel-desk was a computer, and on that computer, was the internet. I opened up my shitty little net book laptop, and began searching through the infinite pile of junk we call the internet.

I tried hard to remember the exact words the girls had used. "Beacon, Vale, and I think they mentioned something about a scroll?" I said out loud. I typed them into google, first separately, then together. Nothing remarkable came up. Just definitions and such. "Oh internet you useless piece of-" then I looked at the time, and promptly passed out.

**The Police Office, Ruby Rose POV**

Well I'm bored. It's hard not to be right now though. I've been up all night, and I was tired when I arrived here anyway. I mean at least I have my team now right?

The police man was less than helpful when we asked him questions, but he seems nice enough. His bushy mustache looks like professor Port's in the right light, but it's much more blonde than our teacher's.

My team and I sat in the waiting room staring at each other in silence. There was so much to talk about, but no one knew where to start.

I decided it was time to break the silence. "So…" They all looked up at me from their scrolls. None of them had any connection, but they still worked for the time being. If we didn't charge them soon they would die, and none of the plugs in this building fit the chargers.

"So?" Yang asked.

"So where do we think we are?"

"Well we're not in Vale anymore," Blake offered. "We get connection everywhere in Vale, so we know that's true."

"We're not in Atlas either," Weiss said, "I used to live there. It was nothing like this."

"There are a lot of trees."

"Thank you Yang," I said.

My sister smiled half-heartedly but Blake backed her up, "She does have a point though. We could be in Vaccuo or something. We haven't seen a single Grimm our entire time here."

"By the way," I said, "how long have we been here?" I checked my own scroll, but it was dead. Everyone else checked theirs before discovering that they too were dead. I looked around for an analog, but none were to be- "There!" I shouted, pointing to the wall above the exit.

A large silver analog clock was ticking away at us. "What time was it when we came through?" Weiss asked.

"We all came through at different times," I said. "I haven't checked a clock until now though, so I'm not sure."

"Hmm…"

The security guard walked into the waiting room from behind his counter. "Are you guys still here?" He asked.

"We have nowhere else to go," Weiss answered.

"Nowhere?" He followed up, "As in like no homes or anything? How old are you?"

"Well I'm-" I started.

"We're eighteen." Weiss stated simply.

"But Weiss-"

"Not now Ruby. Let me do the talking. We still have no idea where we are. Actually maybe you can help us with that," she said as she turned toward the security guard. "Where exactly are we?"

He looked confused. His eyes scrunched together which lifted his mustache up from his mouth. All in all it looked like he was going to eat us. "You're in the police station in Small Town Maine,  
USA."

Sigh, "Yes but where is USA?" She asked.

"Um…" He thought for a second. Or rather, his mustache thought, then he said, "I'll go get a map. I'll be right back." He left the station, and walked down the street toward the next building down. It looked like a rundown old mill of some sort.

"Well that was…" Yang began.

"Awesome!" I said, "Now we get to finally figure out where we are."

"I think she meant the encounter," Blake said. Yang nodded.

**Kestrel POV, sometime the next morning**

I got up, took a shower, got dressed, and ate breakfast like I normally do. I got in my car, and began to drive to school like I normally do. I stopped at the last stoplight before my school, then turned into the windy road leading to the old building like I normally do. My eyes closed and I heard a bang like I normally do. The windshield shattered and sprayed me with glass like it normally does.

**Kestrel POV, sometime later that morning**

My eyes opened to a scene of destruction. Cars and trucks lay strewn across the lonely road before me. I was lying on the ground just off the road. Siren's blared, bright lights flashed, and there was someone yelling. As the fog lifted from my mind I noticed two things. I wasn't dead. I wished I was dead.

Looking down I saw what looked like gallons of blood on my midsection. My whole torso hurt, but I couldn't find a wound. I screamed.

A man in a blue uniform ran over to me, and inspected my body. Two more came over with a stretcher, and I was lifted into it. Once I was high off the ground I was able to get a better look at things. There was a twelve car pileup centered on a semi and my car. Or really what was left of my car would be more like it.

I was lifted into an ambulance, and the doors were shut. Two knocks were heard, and I was gone.

**What would you do I killed him off? This would be a much different story. Still interesting, but much different. Anyway I want to say thanks to everyone who has reviewed on this, it really makes a difference in how much I write and when I write it. I'm not gonna respond to the last two because there's nothing to respond to. So just thanks. On another note, Chris7221 made a new chapter for ****_Aliens Among US_**** so go read that (Like I am). If you're reading this Chris, you might want to read it over again. Just a few grammar mistakes that make it kind of hard to follow. No hard feelings...**


	5. A exercise in hospitality

**Hey guys so a lot has happened between the last time I posted, and now. Most notably, I got really busy. Then I was away from wifi for four days so I couldn't upload. Then I had to rewrite this twice because I forgot plot points. Yeah that's right, I forgot major plot points multiple times. That said, I've become kind of numb to this chapter, and am not sure how it turned out. Tell me in the review section if you would.**

I woke up in a hospital surrounded by doctors. In front of me was a window, and above it was a TV screen. I groggily opened up my eyes, searching for faces that I remembered. I found none. Looking around me I saw bandages upon bandages. From my low vantage point I couldn't see any skin at all. IV's were sticking out of me pointing every which way. I fainted.

**Sometime, Somewhere Kestrel POV**

I woke up again in the same hospital bed with the same window and the same TV screen. This time though, there were no doctors huddled around me, and there were minimal IV's in my arms. Still, I saw none of my own skin, and still, that scared the shit out of me. When the only thing you can move is your head, you start to wonder if you have any limbs at all.

A door to the left of my window opened and in came two familiar faces. My father and my brother entered with a nurse and a doctor. The nurse walked to my right IV, and began removing it from my arm. The doctor walked to my right while my family stayed to the left. No one was paying attention to me.

"Hey guys," I choked out through whatever was in my throat. They all turned to me at the same time. "What?" I asked.

"We… Thought you were dead," My dad said through a pale faced tear ridden smile. My brother wore the same expression.

The nurse quickly replaced my IV, and I became painfully aware that I did in fact have an arm. "Oh," I said simply.

While my family recovered I asked the doctor to my right, "So how exactly does something like that happen? I'm obviously alive…"

He replied with a sorrowful look in his eye, "The doctor before me said it was final. None of the nurses thought you had any hope either. We brought your family in here to say goodbye one last time."

I was shocked that something like that could even happen at… Actually I had no idea where I was at the moment. "So… Um… Where exactly am I?"

"You're in-"

"Doctor take a look at this!"

He turned his head to the screen the nurse was pointing to, and blanched. I turned to my family. I didn't want to know what was going on. "So uh, I guess I'm not really sure what happened here…" I nodded my head toward the bandages that covered my body.

"You were hit by a semi leaving the school." Of course my brother would never let it sound like I hit a semi. It couldn't have been my fault.

"Was anyone else hurt?" I asked.

"Yeah," my dad answered, "Yeah it was a pretty big crash. A lot of people are in the same situation as you right now."

"Shit." I said, "Wait. Why was there even a semi going that way? What could the school possibly need from a semi-trailer?"

They shrugged. I wasn't so ready to dismiss it though. There was no reason a semi-trailer should have been at a school of that size.

A second later and both the doctor and the nurse sprinted out of the room. "That's not good is it?" I asked.

They said nothing. Instead, they pulled up chairs, grabbed a remote control from near my bed, and turned on the TV in front of me. "Oh you don't want to watch that right now," my father said as he changed the channel from the news. Something caught my eye though, and I stopped him, or rather, four somethings.

They were shown at the scene of the crash. The four girls I had met the night before. Someone with a shitty camera had captured the whole thing. The yellow one, Yang I think, had pulled me through my windshield and probably saved my life. The others were running around trying to grab people out of their cars.

"Those… I need to talk to them."

"What? Why do you want to talk to them?" My dad asked.

"They saved my life," I lied. Right now my mind was racing. I had to figure out if the girls were telling the truth, and I had to find out what was on that screen. My family was just kinda there at the moment. It wasn't even all of my family.

"I'll see what I can do," he said as he left.

"Tell them Kestrel's in the hospital and wants to talk to them!" I added. He waved his acknowledgment. It was a small town, and he knew just about everyone in it (No doubt he handpicked my **doctor**) so it would be pretty simple to get the message out.

With my dad gone it was just me and my brother in the room. There was a silence for a while as we both took in my injuries. I figured I had a lot, but there was no way to really tell as I couldn't see any of them. I also couldn't move anything other than my head. The doctors had left without telling anyone anything so there was that too. Frankly I needed to get my mind off of everything.

"So I met a girl online," my brother attempted to break the silence.

"Oh yeah? What's her name?" I asked.

"I haven't gotten that far yet. But she's a Nigerian princess so I could be a king eventually."

"Wow. You're gonna have to show me your computer once I get out of here. You probably have tons of **viruses**."

"What do you mean?"

"Y- Never mind. So what's been going on while I've been out? Actually how long have I even been out? I mean they're still showing the crash on the news so it couldn't have been that long."

"Long enough that we thought you were dead. It's been kind of an emotional roller coaster the past little while."

"Yeah sorry about that… Well at least I'm alive now."

I'm sure he would have been just about to answer but for the door swinging open so fast we felt a gust of wind. In came four people who were quickly becoming my new **best friends**. And my dad. Him too.

**Yang Xiao Long POV, The Crash**

I was confused to be honest. The last day was kind of a blur in my mind. After we left the completely unhelpful police officer- Sorry, security officer, we decided we should **go back** to where we all woke up. We weren't really sure where that was though… And it was too late to ask around so we waited until morning.

We started walking at first light, and got there sometime around seven (We asked a student for the time). It was a quick walk, and it's not like we really had anywhere else to be. We were at the spot where we all woke up when we heard a loud smashing noise. Then there were more loud smashing noises. We all turned and saw it then. Massive damage.

Our huntress instincts kicked in, and we ran back to the sounds. We probably saved a lot of people's lives then, but all I can think about were the ones we didn't save.

**Kestrel POV, The Hospital**

"And then your dad **found** us and now we're here!" Ruby said excitedly.

"You forgot the part where we almost didn't come," (Weiss?) said.

"No I didn't Weiss. I just didn't mention it so we didn't seem so… Not nice," Ruby sighed out.

"I think he deserves to know we have more important things to worry about than him," Weiss (Okay yep, definitely Weiss) retorted.

"Anyway…" I interjected, "You guys saved my life. Particularly you Yang. And I wanted to **thank** you."

"Ah, it was nothing," the blonde one responded.

"Sure. Anyway could I talk to the ladies alone bro?" I asked my brother, who smiled and walked out. On his way, he grabbed my dad and took him too.

"Alright so I need to know why you were there at the scene of the crime in the first place. Then you're going to tell me exactly what happened cause I haven't really been filled in yet."

Ruby spoke up, "After you left us at the Police Station, we had nowhere to go."

"So you just happened to arrive exactly where I was, at exactly the right time?" I asked ignoring the obvious attempt to get a reaction.

"Well at first we went **back** to the field with the weird circles in it, but then we heard the crash so we went back and **found** you unconscious in a car."

"Ok and then I woke up on the side of the road, and was taken by paramedics. I guess that makes sense for now. So then we come to the problem of you four actually being here in the first place. Where are you from again?"

"Vale." They all said in unison.

"Yeah, but where the hell is that?"

"South. Ish," Ruby said.

"Southish? This Is going to be a long day. Ok so you're from Vale. I've never heard of that. You've never heard of the US. Literally everybody on the planet has heard of the US before."

"Literally everybody on the planet has heard of Vale before," Weiss said.

"Yeah but- Oh shit. What if you're not from this planet?" I asked her.

"What if you're not from this planet?" She asked back.

"I'm from this planet. I know exactly where I am and what is happening. You know who doesn't? You. This is all just assuming you haven't been lying the whole time."

"We've been over this," Blake said, "You saw us arrive. It's not unreasonable to assume you're **correct**."

"But there's no evidence to support you're different from me. There's been no **colonization** of planets other than this one… Ever. So you must be different in some way. I mean the chances of me being exactly the same as four aliens are literally 0/∞. It's impossible."

"Well this place is a lot different from Vale," Ruby **offered**.

"That's a start. What's different about it?" I asked.

"Where we come from there're a lot more colors."

"Colors? What do mean more colors?"

"I'll take this one Ruby," Weiss put her hand in front of Ruby. "A little while ago there was a massive war. It all started when the people in charge tried to get rid of expressionism and… Well basically color became the main thing they tried to wipe out. So naturally, color became the rebels' cause. The rebel's won, and now color and expressionism are huge in Remnant."

"Okay I was following you up until you said Remnant." I said.

"Remnant is what we call our world. We live in Vale, but Vale is in Remnant," Weiss answered.

"Okay so we have the USA, and then if we **zoom** out, we see the Earth. Zoom out even more and we have the solar system with our sun at the center. Technically it's called the Sol System coming from a Latin word for the sun, but very few people actually call it that. There's just no need. After that we have the Milky Way which is our galaxy. Don't ask why it's called what it's called. I don't know. Anyway after that we have our universe, which is kind of just a theory right now. I think we need to look bigger than that though for you guys."

"Uh… What?" Ruby asked.

"Did anyone follow what I just said?" I asked.

"So your world is called Earth? Yang asked. I nodded. "And then you have something called a solar system?" She continued. I nodded again. "And then a galaxy? And then a universe?"

"That sounds about right. So the solar system is a collection of planets like this one," I pointed to the ground. "Well no quite like this one, but they are planets. The galaxy is a collection of solar systems, and the universe is a collection of galaxies and some other things that we don't need to get into yet. All making sense?"

They nodded. "Great, so then we need to go one bigger. We don't have a name for that yet because it's kind of just a theory right now. Well I guess it was until yesterday when you guys proved it." They stared back at me with blank faces so I elaborated. "Like I said before, you guys are too similar to the people around here to have been from another planet. While possible, it's so extremely unlikely we shouldn't even assume it as a possibility. So that leaves a little something I like to call multiverse quantum physics. Those words that sound like I just made up actually do mean something." Right now I was kind of just a talking head so I had to make sure they didn't think I was completely insane or something.

"In multiverse quantum physics we assume the multiverse is the next step up. Which means that it's a collection of universes. And I'm about to pass out so I think this concludes our science lesson for the day."

"What?" Yang asked.

"Just call a doctor and remember. Whatever you do, don't-" Then I closed my eyes. _I really am an asshole sometimes_, I thought to myself as the girls yelled for someone to come in.

I actually wasn't kidding about being on the edge of consciousness, but I really just wanted to…

**Kestrel POV, Sometime after that, The Hospital**

I woke up… Again. _Yeah this is getting to be kind of insane_. The doctor from earlier that had run out with the nurse was back, and was furiously scanning a console to my right. The four girls were still there and my family was still out of the room somewhere. That was a little confusing because I assumed they would come back in when they heard Ruby yell. Assuming they heard her yell.

The doctor was saying something I couldn't quite hear. Something about time?

"What about his aura?" I could just make out Ruby's voice.

"His what?" The doctor's voice came into focus.

"His aura. You know, manifestation of the soul?" The doctor's blank expression was almost comical as the small girl tried to explain something that didn't exist. "It protects a person. It should be healing him right now."

"Ruby…" Blake slid quietly next to Ruby and said, "What if they don't have aura here."

"What are you talking about?" The doctor asked incredulously, "If he had this 'aura' he wouldn't need medical attention right now." I, to this day, have only ever seen one doctor use air quotes.

To my, and the doctor's, surprise, Ruby started glowing. At first a faint burgundy, but then, a much brighter rosy red. The doctor looked absolutely shocked at this. She started walking toward me with her hand outstretched. "Don't touch him with that!" The doctor yelled, not moving an inch.

Yang turned to the doctor, "Didn't you say he was going to die without a miracle?"

"Yes but I didn't mean this!" His pointed with his arms at Ruby's glowing form.

"This is the only way to save him if he doesn't have an aura. This is your miracle," Blake said.

Weiss moved between the doctor and me, "Just wait. You'll see."

I hadn't said a word yet. I was too engrossed with what was going on in front of me. Ruby was glowing with some weird alien magic shit, and I had been told I was about to die. On the one hand, I wasn't sure I wanted her to touch me with… Whatever it was, but on the other hand, I didn't want to die either. So I just let it happen.

Ruby laid her hand on my forehead. It was warm to the touch. Like really warm. I was burning up, and every muscle in my body hurt. My bones hurt, my head hurt. Everything hurt. Somehow though, I felt good. In some part of my mind, I felt happy, and I didn't know why.

As I regained feeling in the rest of my body, I felt my muscles expand, my bones harden, and my senses intensified. Still, I could feel something in the back of my mind. It was cheerful, powerful, young, and a little scared. I realized later that this was Ruby.

**Hey guys I'm back. So besides talking about this chapter (I don't really feel like doing that though) there's still something I want to do here. Basically I want your thoughts on my the story's summary. Should I put more information on it? Should I include characters? The only reason I haven't done these things already is because I wanted a kind of "I wonder what he's talking about. Maybe I should check it out." Personally I don't feel it came out that way so I'm looking to you (The people that found my story through the summary) to give me a tip or two. Or just what you liked or disliked about it. As always you should leave a review about the actual story too...**

**See ya later.**


	6. Too tired for a witty whatever this is

**Hey guys I'm back. Late again. I think I'm growing again? I've been really tired recently, and I've been drinking literally gallons of milk. Actually today I didn't, but yesterday I did. Anyway the thing I keep meaning to say but keep forgetting to say is that I need a beta reader. Like really badly. If anyone wants to volunteer, that would be great. This is a pretty short chapter, and I'm sorry about that. I just have a lot on my mind right now, and it's been two weeks. I did get get reviews last chapter, but I don't feel like replying. Sorry, I'm tired.**

"HAHAHAHAHA- you are never doing that again." I said as the feeling of sudden strength passed.

"Sorry," Ruby said sheepishly as she moved back to her spot among the girls.

"What did you do?" The doctor asked, looking up briefly from his console at the girl.

"I just-"

"Ruby," I said, moving my arm up in front of her. Then I turned to the doctor, "It was a miracle."

My mind was working faster than it had ever before. I was dealing with possibilities whose prerequisites hadn't even arisen yet. I thought about everything from the doctor alerting the police to the girls' being aliens, to the doctor alerting the North Koreans about the girls. Frankly, I didn't want either to happen.

The one thing I didn't seem to notice was the most obvious thing to everyone else in the room. I had lifted my arm. After all this time of complaining to myself about not being able to move, as soon as I can move, I don't even think about it. Says a thing or two about human priorities.

I looked left once again to the girls, then I slowly moved my eyes down to my arm. It stayed directly where it was, in the middle of the air, still covered in bandages. Somehow it seemed bigger than it was earlier.

I lifted my other arm. Then my left leg. Then the right. Then I sat up. Everything seemed to be terrible one instant, there was no hope of me even living through the day, and then suddenly I was in tip top shape. Everyone was quiet.

"So what happens now?" Yang asked the room.

Everyone looked at the doctor, who stared blankly back, still remaining silent. After a few seconds he seemed to notice the silence and spoke up, "Uh, we'll uh, have to run some tests still…"

"Yeah okay, but for now I'd like to uh… You know… Move." I said.

"Of course," the doctor replied.

I sat up, and as I did so there was a loud ripping sound. "I didn't even know I was wearing pants…"

"Those are the bandages you dolt," Weiss said accusingly.

"Wow, dolt. I haven't heard that one in… I don't think anyone's said that in a hundred years. You should be proud," I said mockingly.

She scowled. I stood all the way out of my gurney before realizing I was still attached to the IV. I looked to the doctor and pointed, and suddenly the IV was gone. What a miracle. As I moved my legs for the first time in days, there were more ripping noises, and before I knew it, I was almost completely naked from the waste up. The bandages on my lower half were quickly falling off too though, and I would need more clothes soon.

"Ha ha, yeah as funny as it would be, you should put some clothes on," Yang said.

"…Yeah," I said, "Can you guys like leave or something…" They gave a collective half blush smile and left. "Oh, and can you tell my dad that I'll need some clothes. He'll know what to do."

I turned to the doctor who was still staring at his console, baffled. "So uh, what happened?"

"I have no idea. I'll have to bring this data to the head of the hospital for processing. If this is what I think it is, it could be extremely useful to us."

That was worrisome. What I had done before, in stopping Ruby from speaking, I hadn't done for no reason. I believed them now. I knew that they were, for lack of a better term, aliens. Well actually they were clearly humans, just from a different planet. I guess that made them aliens. Whatever. The point was, I had watched movies. I knew what could happen if the government found out.

I wasn't stupid though. I knew that stuff wouldn't actually happen. There would most likely be no vivisection or dissection, but there might be some other problems. I was most worried that the government might try to turn them into some sort of weapon. If a simple touch could save lives, maybe it could take them too? They also might prioritize data collection and sciency stuff rather than actually getting the girls back to their home. If the girls begin to sink into their surroundings, they could become lax, and then eventually not want to go home at all. I couldn't let that happen. Not when we have a starting place. Especially not now that they'd saved my life.

"What would happen if I unplugged that wall socket?" I asked the doctor. I pointed to the wall socket closest to the machine gurney I had recently been confined to. Masses of wires were coming from it, and the console was clearly connected to it.

"The whole machine would take a hard shut down. I would lose all of this data." He said, pointing to the console in front of him. "You don't mean to-"

I put a well-placed jab between his head and his neck. He was knocked out. "Fuck," I said. "This could be bad. I began tearing out wires from the wall socket. Slowly I watched things in the room turn off. First the desk lamp, then the read out on my heart monitor (No longer attached), then finally the console attached to the gurney.

Then my dad walked in. He saw the doctor slumped in his chair, then he saw me leaning completely naked over the console to see if it was still on. He was clearly mad, and confused, but he had priorities. Kid first, then ask questions later. "Are you okay?" He asked, "What happened?"

"He just fainted when he saw the console. Something about data that didn't make sense? I don't know, it all happened really quickly."

He was clearly not impressed with this answer, but he handed me the clothes without a word. I put them on, and we walked out of the room. He had the nurse check me out of the hospital, and we were on our way out of the grand building when I remembered something. "Hey," I said, "Where are the girls?"

"They said something about going back to the school for some reason. I didn't argue."

"Wait, but how would they even get there? None of them can drive."

"They can't? Oh shit!"

"What?"

"I may have loaned them your brother's car."

"That's not good. We should get in the car and go as fast as possible to the school. Maybe we can catch them on their way." He nodded, and we ran to the car. A few minutes later and we were at the school, the girls nowhere to be seen.

"Uhh… Where could they be? Maybe they got lost?" I moaned loudly to the wind.

"Maybe," my dad answered, "but probably not."

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen them work through problems. I'm not sure what those problems were, but they're sharp. It might help if I knew their problems were… Or at least give me some indication of what is going on. Right now I'm just acting on what you've told me, and that isn't much."

"I uh… I probably shouldn't tell you until I ask them how much I can say. It's kind of sensitive. Or maybe not. I just don't know, you know?"

"No, I don't know," he said, "I have no idea what is going on right now at all. There was an unconscious doctor in your hospital room, and you were in a hurry to leave. Hell we moved through the damn corridor so fast I couldn't have told someone if I'd wanted."

"There're some things that I'm not sure I can tell people, and there are some things I know no one can know ever. I think my crash with that semi caused too much publicity as it is," I said inwardly.

"Too much publicity?" He threw his arms up, "You're in high school! What could possibly be so bad that you're worried about publicity? Wait," my dad paused, "you didn't kill someone did you?"

"No! It's nothing like that. It's just that the four girls you met earlier aren't from around here. And I don't mean they're from the city or something. I mean they're from very far away, and no one can know that. Ever."

"Kestrel. Where are they from?" He said quietly and slowly.

"I can't say," I said as I looked away.

"You can't say or you don't know?"

"Uh, both? Ish." I turned back.

"What? Wait, I think I'm ringing." He put up a hand to stop the conversation, and took out his phone from his pocket. "Yes this is- Yes he is. Okay, but why- Fuck." He hung up and put the phone away before running to the car we had just come from.

**Still here? Wow, you're dedicated. This next part is either going to be really good, or really bad. I'll have fun writing it, and so I hope you have fun reading it. Keep reviewing and all that shit. I'm out bitches.**


	7. More plot!

**PS (Pre-script): You guys couldn't read that? Guess you're all just noobs. Really though thanks for pointing that out. That's the second time that's happened, and I'm still working on figuring out why. I think Guffey has some ideas though... Let's try and upload this again I guess.**

**Hey guys so there're some things I want to say about this chapter before you read it. First of all I want to say thank you to my new beta reader: GuffeyManipulation. Guffey has already been very helpful with grammar and rushing mistakes. I was actually going to upload this chapter with a few words missing it seems. Anyway now it's up to you all to tell me how plot and transitions are cause that has to be done by someone other than me. Another pair of eyes. **

**Also there is the scheduling thing. So I'm about to get really busy which means even slower uploads unfortunately, but then I'm going to get really un-busy as the summer comes along. So bear with me as this stuff happens. I get out of school on the 20th of June because we've had so many storms and stuff like that. I still can't drive on part of my neighborhood road as a result of fallen trees from the storm in November. I'm also getting a Great Dane puppy next Sunday with some... Issues so I'm going to have to do some hardcore training. On top of all that, I have a second degree black belt test happening on some undetermined date coming up so I'll be doing some hardcore training myself. After all that though, is the summer. I'm gonna be very busy then too, but with no school, there will be a lot of time to write too. Hopefully. **

**I'm in the planning stages of a new fic. This one I'm actually planning out hardcore just to see how much better it is. I have a whiteboard with almost no white on it and post it notes as well as many pages on my computer. This will have longer chapters than the story you're currently reading so whatch out for that. I figured since I deleted the stories I dropped, I needed another one to take their place. I think it's going to be good.**

"Stay here," I heard as I opened the car door to my father. "Stay here," he said more forcefully as I climbed in next to him. I put the seatbelt on and closed the door, and he just drove.

I didn't know what was going on, but I could tell it was urgent. I was willing to bet he couldn't wait long so I got in the car. I was right in the end. Not even in my earlier state of enhanced thinking and musculature could I have thought this far ahead. All of my earlier theories…

Can't talk like that. I just can't talk like that. I knocked out a doctor, erased miracle data, and got hit by a semi to save these people. I just can't talk like that until I have all the answers.

"So who called," I asked. I knew he wouldn't answer if I had outright asked him outright what the call had been about so I settled for part of the answer. If I could figure out who was calling I might be able to figure out what the call was about.

Or maybe I asking for too much.

"A friend," he stated as he stared forward out the window.

Oh, great. A friend. Cause that clears things up. I guessed it probably wasn't meant to clear things up, but that's beside the point. I needed to figure out what was so urgent he needed to get into his car and leave right away, and yet so important he couldn't trust his own son to come with him. He knows me, I thought, he's probably being smart. Shut up, me.

"Look, I know I haven't exactly been forthcoming with information I've been gathering, but I need to know what I'm getting into before I get into it."

"I didn't want you to get into it at all." He said flatly.

"And yet I'm into it now. So don't tell me it's for my own good. I'm gonna find out in a few minutes anyway, I mean, why not just give me some time to process it before it's thrown in my face. If it's that important, I have a feeling I'll need to process it a while anyways, so why not just give me a head start."

"It's about your new friends." He finally opened up.

"What happened?" I asked. I knew they could take care of themselves fairly well, and if Ruby was any indication, they were probably pretty good healers too.

"There was a crash."

"Another one?" I couldn't' believe it. They had literally just saved me from a crash a little while ago.

"Another semi."

"Oh no. No no no no…" How does that happen? Two semi crashes so close to each other? Then the fear hit me. Slowly at first, but then faster and faster, like a rollercoaster of terrible feelings it brought me down, then back up as the glimmer of hope I held earlier prevailed, but then everything stopped when we arrived.

I looked around frantically. There was my brother's car, and a massive semi-trailer. The car had hit it straight on, no doubt they hadn't known how to turn that quickly. The car was almost non-existent. It had gone under the trailer hitting it on the bottom of the bumper. My car had hit the trailer on the top of the bumper.

I searched through the wreckage. There was no police or firemen or ambulances or anything to stop me so I searched. I searched and searched, and found nothing. I couldn't get to the car underneath the car, underneath the trailer as it was. I obviously couldn't move the trailer, but still, something was off.

I felt like there was something I should be seeing, but wasn't.

I stepped back and took a grander look at things. The trailer was still turned on. There wasn't any driver though. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen the girls anywhere. And then there was the fact that my dad had gotten here before any emergency services. What was up with that?

I looked at the trailer one last time and instantly understood everything. Above the dent made by the smashed car was another dent. One that couldn't possibly have been put there by my brother's car, and it looked startlingly like my front left headlight.

I ran to the trailer again, but this time I climbed into the cabin of the massive thing. It smelled like smoke and oil, not a good combination, and the foot pedal had been badly smashed. Still, I was able to put it into reverse with my limited knowledge of cars, and stepped on the pedal.

There was a loud screeching noise as metal grinded on metal. For a time, nothing happened, but then everything happened. The truck rolled backwards, turning as it went. Semis aren't meant to go backwards. After a few seconds of moving incredibly slowly, there was a loud thump, and the entire cabin fell a good five feet with me in it. Guess I'm off the car then.

I stepped out of the truck after turning the key. The two front tires were now very visibly shredded. I was surprised the engine even worked honestly. The whole front of the thing had been smashed to pieces. The car was in even worse shape. It was a truck itself, but next to the semi, it was nothing. After all the damage it stood a shallow 5 feet off the ground, and that was generous. The tires were completely gone, and the wheels were crushed. I was willing to bet the axles were gone as well.

The inside was originally made of leather, but now seemed to be made of shattered glass and bits of sharp metal. In short, you wouldn't want to sit down on the seats. I looked around for a while, but spied nothing. Everything seemed to be in order. Except the car, which was very obviously out of order. The back seats were smashed almost to oblivion, but if I looked carefully, I could still see something under the back right one. Something metallic and red, and the part that made me do a double take, something seemingly unharmed from the entire experience.

I removed the wreckage of the back seat from the car, and took the red metal in my hands. It was a rectangle, it was heavy, and it was certainly Ruby's. It matched her black and red color scheme perfectly.

While I decided what to do with it, I heard a voice. Someone calling someone else. I didn't recognize the voice, and I couldn't hear what it was saying. I recalled the events I had recalled earlier to the front of my mind. My father arrived before emergency services, my father was gone, and there was no one else around. This voice meant surely meant trouble.

I ran back to the car I had arrived in, hoping to find my dad somewhere. I had all but given up on finding the girls anywhere so he was my last hope for help. He wasn't there. The car was still running though. Maybe he had to go to the bathroom? He would have just told me that. Maybe he- Shut up. The voice called again.

It was closer now, but even if I stopped to listen more carefully, I couldn't make out what it was saying. Then I heard another voice. Probably in response to the first one. I didn't recognize it either.

Ok Kestrel, Think. What do you have at your disposal? A piece of metal, a car, anything in the car, and- What's in the car? Let's find out.

In the glove compartment is… A roll of duct tape- That's all I need. The voices were getting closer now, and I could make out a few words. Something about, "the kid, the girls, and the boss."

I could hear their crunching footsteps now, and I knew I had to work fast. Had to hide the metal thing, they would know if I got into the car so I had to hide the metal thing. It was the only option. Luckily, I'm something of a genius when it comes to duct tape.

I took off my shirt duct taped the shiny rectangle to my back (Don't ask, I'm a professional), and put my shirt back on. Done, Done, and D-

"Hey kid, putcha hands up!" The first voice yelled from the woods behind me. I really hoped he didn't see Ruby's red rectangle.

I put my hands up, and before I knew it, The two voices were upon me. The voices had guns, and bodies to match. They took my hands out of the air, put them behind my back, and cuffed my wrists tightly. They said nothing the entire time.

Then they knocked me out.

Ruby Rose POV, Somewhere Underground

I'd been held captive before. I'd been held captive without my weapon before. That didn't mean I had to like it.

It all started when that big truck hit us. None of us knew how to drive these American cars, but we're huntresses in training right? We adapt and survive for the good of… I don't know who I'm supposed to protect now. I'm in some other universe without my friends and family. At least I have my team…

The man who tried to take our weapons had something coming to him, but Yang told me not to hurt anybody until we know whose team they're on. It's pretty obvious he's not on our team. Joke's on him though, I didn't even have my weapon.

It got lost when the big truck hit us. Our aura's protected us, but the car got crushed. Then they told us to get out or they'd shoot. Frankly I wouldn't have minded if they shot though, cause then I could have shot back.

If you can't tell. I'm angry. I don't get angry easily, not like Yang, but right now, I'm angry. I'm in a strange place with strange people, Weiss is telling me what to do, and I don't have Crescent Rose with me. I'm sitting in a cell with my team, and we can't get out. They haven't even told us what we did wrong.

"We have rights here right?" I asked my team, "I mean don't we get a phone call or something?"

"Who would we call?" Yang replied. "We don't know anyone here, but that Kestrel kid who we just ditched."

"Besides, I think you have to be a citizen to have any rights at all, and we are definitely not citizens," Weiss said.

"But why would they even take us here anyway. We didn't do anything." I said.

"Maybe it's because they know where we're from. What if they're keeping us here because we're from Vale."

"Remember what Kestrel said. Vale doesn't exist in this universe. They don't know where we're from as much as we don't know where we are," Weiss replied.

"Kestrel also said that if the government found out about us, they might want to do very bad things to us," I replied.

"Not on my watch," a new voice echoed through the cell we were in. We all turned to see one of the few familiar faces in this world.

Kestrel was being thrown into the cell with us by one of those silent guards in black we had seen wandering before.

Kestrel POV, Somewhere Underground

I was really getting tired of being knocked out willy nilly. It was like every other day was punch Kestrel in the neck day. For God's sake I just woke up from a coma this morning! Although I guess I had also knocked someone out this morning so it might even out. There was still one question on my mind though.

Where the fuck was I? And for that matter, what time was it? Was it even the same day? How should I know? I asked myself. As soon as I woke up I was in a cell.

"Uh so, hello good people of Vale!" I said loudly to my cell mates. I noticed with a little bit of envy that none of the girls were wearing handcuffs. I was. Oh well, the guards' fault for being stupid.

"Yeah so I have a thing for you guys. I'm not really sure what it is, but I can't get to it with these handcuffs on anyways. Could someone maybe help me with that?"

None of them said anything. I think they were still in shock from seeing me down here. Yang moved forward, and broke my cuffs with one pull. Wow. No wonder they didn't have handcuffs on. Anymore at least.

"So what's this thing you have for us?" Yang asked me after she returned to her friends.

I turned around and took my shirt off. Underneath was the duct taped piece of red metal I had found earlier. I undid the duct tape and screamed as quietly as I could. Needless to say, it wasn't that quiet.

"Is that Crescent Rose?!" Ruby practically screamed at me.

"You named a piece of metal?" I asked her with a look of shock.

"It is not just a piece of metal! This is my weapon. It's an extension of myself." Ruby looked positively hurt. Like I had just insulted her family or something.

"Geez well sorry, but how exactly does it… How is that a weapon?"

She unfolded her red rectangle into something that would make me change its name to red rectangle of doom. Out of one end of the rectangle came a pole. At the end of the pole was what one might see at the end of a sword's hilt. The rectangle itself then folded out away from the pole it had just made, connecting at the unused end of the pole. Out from the rectangle, which was now perpendicular to the pole, came a large blade. From only two folds came a blade just as long as Ruby's own legs. A counter weight/flashy bladed spike folded out of the back of the blade.

"Woah! Is that a scythe?" I asked the girl with the oversized corn husker.

"It's also a customizable, high impact, sniper rifle." She replied with a cock of her gun.

"So it's a scyther rifle. Cool."

"Ugh. Now there are two of them," Weiss moaned.

Two of whom? I wondered. Yang smiled at me.

"So what are we going to do with that thing?" I asked them. "I guess you could cut the bars,, but then after that? We have no idea where we are or how to get out of this place."

"Actually I memorized the path we took getting in," Blake said.

"But weren't you… Please tell me you guys were knocked out?" The speechlessness of the room gave me quite the answer. "Great. Only one knocked out. Only one with cuffs on. Only guy. Figures."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing," I said, "Nothing at all. Just gender equality rules here on Earth."

"You have rules?" Ruby asked me.

"You guys don't?" More silence. I continued, "We have to or the male population will _ the female population."

"They can't stand up for themselves?" Yang asked.

"Well they…" I started. I was getting into enemy territory here, "They can in most cases nowadays, but for a very long time women had no rights in any societies. In some places it's still the same."

Yang looked like she was about to say something when we heard footsteps coming toward the cell. Ruby quickly put away her scythe. Even the second time I was amazed at how quickly she folded it back into a rectangle. She stuck it behind her, and to my surprise, it stayed.

A guard in black approached the cells and began unlocking the door. He looked familiar to me somehow. It must have been something about that mustache…

"Hey aren't you-" I asked.

"Quiet. All of you follow me," he said.

"So do we run for it?" Yang asked Ruby. I wasn't really sure why she asked her little sister when I was clearly in charge here, but I didn't worry too much about it.

"Not yet. I want to see what's going on down here. Just make sure you're on the lookout for anything suspicious," the girl in red replied.

All three of the others nodded. Honestly I almost did too. There was something about her leader speak that just… Well I could see why the others were waiting for her decision.

We passed through dark hallways with low ceilings and even lower ceiling lights. The walls were colored a dark beige of some sort. It was dark, damp, and dark. It was also pretty dark.

I wondered what my family would say to me right now. I was in a dark damp hallway somewhere underground with no way to escape, band being held by some unknown captors. I couldn't think about that though. Not right now. There was too much at stake. Whatever was happening down here, people had to know about it. You don't kidnap 5 young adults for no reason. I hope not anyway.

Still, I knew I recognized the man in front of us. That blonde mustache. I knew it from somewhere. I just didn't know where.

Soon the hallway went thin, and we had to go single file. There was a tiny door at the end of the hallway. Just tall enough to fit a person, and just wide enough to fit an anorexic person. It was like the doors I had seen on my family's first and last cruise. Like doors on a boat. We aren't on a boat are we? I thought.

The man in the front of our now single file line stopped to open the door.

Inside was a large man in a large suit that seemed to stand out in the darkness even though his suit was seemingly very dark. He ruled the whole room it seemed, and nothing was getting in his way.

**Does anyone understand/remember what's happening? I really hope so. There's a reason the plot in this story is so obvious. So you can understand what's about to happen. Tell me your theories, and I'll confirm/deny them. Happy holiday weekend thing. I have a long weekend, I don't know about you guys. I have a very spread out demographic**.

**I tried to stretch this out a little longer than it was supposed to be per request, but I'm not sure how it turned out. You really can't just make something longer cause you feel like it. Well, not without said piece being total shit. Anyway, depending on how much time I spend on the plot for next chapter, it might be a little longer than this. We'll see. Thanks again to the people that pointed out my mistake. I had pms ,reviews, and everything. You guys are awesome.**

**I just want to put it out there that I have no idea when this story will end. I have a set ending, but there are a lot of arcs I want to do. Some of them clash with each other so I can't do them all. That makes it hard to give a definite ending time. We'll see I guess.**

**In conclusion: I have no idea how things will play out time wise. That was basically six paragraphs of AN's in one sentence. Bye!**


	8. Esteemed guests and hostile hosts

**Hey guys I'm back, and alive. My life has been really interesting lately, but that's a different story. Anyway, in this chapter, I get to explain a lot more of my stuff, which is why I started writing this in the first place.**

**I actually had this done a week ago, but there was some stuff I needed to fix. But it's out now right? Yay...**

**Man, I have so much to say... Thanks to GuffeyManipulaion, and I guess I'll let you read now.**

The door shut behind us. When I say it shut, I mean it slammed shut, and locked with such a sickening thump, I actually thought the deadbolt was hitting a body. All too quickly the five of us were alone in the room with mister… He hasn't even told us his name yet has he?

"Who are you?" I asked the man in black.

"Weeelcome esteemed guests, I am Doctor I. and this is area fifty one," The man spread his arms out wide, and with a huge grin, turned on the indoor lamps. Light erupted from the ceiling as he did so, making even him jump and turn toward the back of the room.

Behind Doctor I. was another man. This man was operating a plethora of light switches at the back of the room. "God Damnit Phil! We've been over this! When I put my arms out, you turn the lights on. Alright now let's start over," he said as he turned back around.

"No no it's okay, you can just leave them on. Maybe just a little dimmer," Yang said.

"Really," Doctor I asked. "Alright fine. Suit yourselves I guess. So, welcome to area 51. I hope your stay was pleasant and continues to be so."

"Pleasant? We were locked up in a cell, and no one would speak to us for hours! How could that be considered pleasant?" Weiss screeched at the poor man, fists balled at her sides.

The man was looked visibly hurt by this. Either he was a good actor, or not in charge around here. "Doctor I, what exactly do you do around here?" I asked him.

"That's your first question? Honestly I figured you would ask about area fifty one is before anything else. Americans do have such terrible opinions regarding secret underground government bases with missile silos. I mean it's not my fault. I didn't put them there, I just pressed the button. How was I supposed to know what would happen? And don't even get me started on government pound cake!"

"Um, mister-"

"Doctor!"

"Doctor I. I'm sure we'd all love to hear more about the pound cake, but there are more important things happening," Ruby said. So that's why her sister was looking to her for advice. Honestly I would have let him go on about pound cake and missile silos, but this was probably a better course of action.

"Right, right, you are so very right. There are indeed more important things happening at the moment. Things that are so much more important than government funded pound cake that doesn't even have pound in it. Very, very important things happening right now. At this moment. The first of which is…" He trailed off and looked at us. We all went silent, but then Blake chimed in.

"Where are we? What are we doing here? How much do you know?"

"You're in area fifty one. What you do here is up to you, and know about what exactly?"

"Perhaps the better question," Weiss rephrased, "is why we are here?"

"Ah yes. More specific. I like you, you know. Conversation gets so much better when you know what you're conversing about. So, why are you here?"

"Uh, we asked you first?" Ruby said.

He paused, and cocked his head right.

"Yes I suppose you did. Well, we brought you here to study you. Well I suppose we isn't the right word. I didn't do anything. But that's beside the point. I do understand that you are upset. However, you have no family, no friends, no one knows who you are, you're not even an international citizen." His face hardened from its earlier easy going shape, "In short. You can't do shit about it."

I looked o Ruby. She looked back at me, and fiddled with her cape. At first I thought it was just a nervous movement, but then I realized she was flashing Crescent Rose. Right, she could do something about it. Then I thought of something else. If she was that small, and had a weapon that big, there must be something up with her. She also had those healing hand things that saved my life. Maybe the other three also had things like those? Wait, didn't Yang break my cuffs in one blow? She definitely did. Maybe these constant knockouts were giving me brain damage.

So yeah, they were all strong. I was willing to bet they all had weapons of their own too. Those cold be useful.

"So, why do you want to study them?" I asked, "What could they possible have that the infamous 'area fifty one' doesn't have?"

He didn't even address me, "You girls have power. Not mechanical, not nuclear, but raw, fighting power. That's why you're here. To help make the human body stronger, more resilient, and more versatile."

"You do realize we're human too, right?" Blake said.

"Are you?" Doctor I replied quickly. "I didn't know humans had two separate sets of ears," he said with a smug look on his face.

Everyone looked at Blake, who just clutched the top of her head. Well, it certainly wouldn't be the weirdest thing to see right about now, I thought.

"And we've seen what you did to this fellow here when he was in the hospital," he looked to Ruby this time.

"Ok look man. You may think you know everything, but if you aren't actively trying to get these girls back to their home, then you're clearly mistaken on some things," I told him.

"Well, I suppose you could be correct. We only found out about these… things, after Weiss appeared. You saw everyone appear. That's the… One of the only reasons you're here with us. We also need to study you to see what Ruby did to you that save your life."

"Wait, you knew about us the whole time?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"Not the whole time dear," he replied.

"Why didn't you do anything? You could have saved his life! I wouldn't have had to do anything," Ruby said.

"If we saved his life, that would defeat the purpose of the experiment. We needed you to try and save his life. It was the only way to study how you react to changes while still remaining in the darkness."

"What," I asked, "do you mean by experiment?"

Sigh, "I just went over this. We endanger your life, she saves it. Gives us more information, and you less. Of course there were some complications regarding our agents. You knocked out one of them, and the first one almost gave us away with his choice of apparel, but it all worked out in the end. Can you believe we caught everything on a camera orbiting Jupiter? The wonders of technology never cease to amaze me."

"Ok. Wow. First of all, I think we can work something out here. Secondly, we have to talk about this government surveillance thing."

"First of all, yes. Secondly, no."

"Fine, let's do number one then. I assume you have some sort of idea on how they got here?"

"Yes, but we'll get to that in a second. Guards! Get in here and take the girls back to their cells."

Well, that could be a problem. If I was in their place, I'd take this chance to escape, but I can't let them do that until I can get this guy to tell me how to get them back home. I walked over and whispered my plan to Ruby who nodded before being forcefully removed from the premises.

The next while was the most interesting way to spend time in the world. I was sat down in another room so dark it felt positively evil. I guess being underground tended to suck the life out of things. Anyway, the talk we had. Doctor I. agreed with my earlier guess of wormholes. However, as I had forgotten to take into account, there was no actual evidence of anything that big happening. Lack of evidence was all I was going on, but that could have been anything. The biggest thing we had to go on were the circles left imprinted into the ground.

What I had thought had just taken grass had taken a fraction of a millimeter of dirt along with the grass. That was on the sides anyway. In the middle, an entire inch of dirt had been taken. I hadn't noticed it because I hadn't been looking for it, but this could be the key to figuring out how and why they're here.

The slope of the hole in the ground indicates that the circle isn't a circle at all. It's a three dimensional shape of some sort. The most likely explanation is a sphere, but the proportion of the outside height to the inside height shows it to be more of a clopped cylinder of some sort. My guess would have to be a misshapen sphere. Why it was misshapen, I have no idea.

Doctor I. suggested that the shape started out as a sphere, but then was changed when it came through to this dimension. And yes, for the purpose of simplicity, we're calling it another dimension. Technically it's another universe if we're operating on the worm hole theory (And we are), but honestly, it's so much easier to explain and understand this way.

My biggest problem was that the worm holes only opened if when the girls were getting transported here. And they opened in different places. So there was no way to know where the next one would open.

We know there must be multiple wormholes because the measurements of the holes were all different.

Unless…

**Ruby Rose POV, Cell**

Kestrel told me the plan. It was a good plan, and it might actually work. I was still bored though. We sat in our cell, and talked. We talked about what was going to happen. Of course, I couldn't tell anyone Kestrel's plan. Otherwise, well, this whole mission would be pointless.

I was pretty sure this was the closest thing to a real mission I was going to get in this world. If that was true, then I was gonna rock this thing. I may not be coming up with the plan, but I was gonna lead my team to victory just like I always did at home.

That was, once we got out of this cell.

Of course I could just cut the bars…

But that would defeat the purpose of the plan…

But just one slash, maybe two, and we'd be out…

We would still have to find my team's weapons though. They were taken from us immediately after entering this secret base. Stupid silent guards in black…

**Kesstrel POV**

If the wormholes opened up at different times in different times, each time a different shape. There were two explanations. The most obvious one being that there was only one wormhole that got warped each time it opened up. That one might be a little unlikely considering that I've never heard of a wormhole reopening once it's been closed. Although I've never heard of a wormhole being closed. Or a wormhole being real in the first place.

**Blake Belladonna POV**

I've tried to wrap my mind around this whole thing multiple times already… I'm usually quieter than most people anyway, but this is different. I just have nothing to add to anyone's conversation, or the topic at all.

I've been quiet because I don't know what to say. Now's the time when I wish I had one of my books…

Unfortunately, I'm stuck in this cell away from my weapons, my books, most of my friends. I still have my team here, and Ruby still has her weapon, but she says we're not allowed to escape yet.

I follow orders well. I was trained to do so from the very beginning, but I really hope she has a plan.

**Kestrel POV**

The complex is massive, and well… Complex. I've passed what I think are actual aliens. I've seen tons of people in different shades of black suits, some of whom I'm pretty sure were part of the cast of Men in Black. Honestly I'm not really sure which surprised me more. The massive amount of people underground, or the unending reasons why they're there.

**Yang Xiao-Long POV**

I'm a pretty easy going gal. I like puns. They're kinda my thing. I like guys, girls, everything in between, and I like having fun. This is not what I call having fun.

I will say that I trust Ruby with my life, and I trust her to make the right decision when she's put on the spot. That said, I've been sitting on this wall for so long I think it might fall when I get up. She's just been looking through the bars of our cell for the whole time.

Ruby says we can't escape right now. She says we shouldn't hurt these people, but honestly I'm just waiting for them to make a move so I can make one back.

**Kestrel POV**

Doctor I. may very well have some screws loose, but he's incredibly smart. That, and he's in charge of everything around here. Frankly, I've learned so much here about the wormholes than I think I ever could have on my own.

**Weiss Schnee POV**

I will not be treated like this for any longer. This is degrading, torturous, and frankly just mean.

I trust my team leader just as much as the next girl down, but she's losing that trust quickly. And my trust is not easily earned back.

She better have a plan.

I mean really. I understand they don't know who I am here. Who we are, but do they really have to leave us here on the cold concrete floor? There's barely even enough light in here to use the toilet. Not that they gave us one…

**Kestrel POV**

Truly, I am in awe of these people. Sure they might do bad things, but could they really be that bad if they have this much funding?"

**Third Person POV, The Cell**

"I can't stand this anymore!" Team RWBY said in unison, "We are getting out of here!"

**Alright I'm back again. SO I'm actually in the middle of finals right now. I just took my second one. Tomorrow I have my hardest one, English. I really hate Romeo and Juliet right now people. Like really.**

**Anyway, Doctor I. is by far my favorite character so far.**

**Oh yeah, the thing I meant to talk about up top: This story is getting really dramatic. Like, way too dramatic. There is a reason for it, but I could have gone about fixing it any other way than this and it would have been fine. Anyway, there is a lot of stuff I kind of explained (If you know how I think), but didn't say outwrite. If you didn't get them, just pm me. I'll tell you all my woes. Again, I really really like reviews. I once lived 2 years in the Sahara Desert surviving on only reviews and the tears of Cambodians.**


	9. Better than the last chapter

**Hey so this one is short, and I knew it was going to be late so I just wrote 2 chapters. Chapter 10 will be out soon as well.**

**You can think of this one as a bridge chapter, but some stuff happens I guess. I didn't really focus on anything while writing this one. Enjoy!**

Honestly I thought everything was going pretty well for a while. The guards were being pretty nonchalant about me asking so many questions, and for the most part, I was getting answered. Doctor I. was being pretty amiable, and things seemed like they couldn't get much better. I was learning a lot from him about the girls' predicament.

Then he got a call. And the lights turned all siren-y. And the guards pointed guns at me.

That wasn't fun.

To those who haven't had guns pointed at your face: It feels like a joke at first, guns don't look dangerous, it's the loud noise that's scary. And you know what the loud noise means, and that scares you even more. Then, if you get shot, you go into shock. That's even scarier. If you're lucky, you'll die. If not, bullet wounds aren't fun either.

Luckily, I wasn't shot. I got on the ground, and no one fired. They just pointed their big scary bang sticks at me and hoped I wouldn't try anything. As anyone can plainly see, I'm not an idiot. So I didn't try anything. And they didn't shoot me. Worked out well for both of us.

"What's going on?" I asked Doctor I.

"Your friends are trying to escape," he responded without looking at me.

I chuckled, "You should just let them, you know. From what I've seen, they might just kill you all if you try to stop them."

The guards chuckled back. "No, I'm serious," I continued, "Ruby saved my life with one hand. You don't think that hand has the power to take away a life too? And Yang snapped my cuffs without even trying. They've lifted cars as I'm sure you've seen," I narrowed my eyes, "and yet you still think you have a chance. Oh yeah, and there's that."

At the end of the hallway we were currently standing in was an explosion. Right where the door should have been. Ruby came speeding out with her giant scythe in hand, shooting toward us on her tiny legs. She pointed the scythe at us, and three people dropped to the ground. Two guards, and one Doctor I. I was already on the ground so I wasn't shot (Again, works out great for everyone), but Ruby still picked me up at top speed which hurt probably almost as much. "I'll explain later!" She yelled to me over the cacophony of noise from bullets firing and people running.

_You'd better_, I thought to myself, _cause you could have just stopped us from ever getting you home_. I was a little bit annoyed at Ruby for setting off all of the alarms, but the truth was, I really didn't like Doctor I. He was starting to get on my nerves.

After a little bit of running we were back at the cells with the other three girls. When Ruby put me down I almost past out immediately, but I somehow stayed standing. "You know what?" I asked them, "I guess it was bound to happen sometime."

"Uhh, which part?" Yang asked.

"The whole thing actually. If not the government, someone would have figured out who you were, and would have tried to capture you, then, knowing your personalities and abilities, you would have escaped. We just got lucky it that was someone I can sue. Well, not me, but, you know, someone."

"Okay, enough talk," Weiss said, "Let's just get out of here and we can talk later."

"Couldn't agree more," Blake said.

"On it," Ruby said.

"For once we agree on something ice queen," Yang said.

_Ice Queen_? I decided I would file that one away for later use. In questioning._ Yeah, in questioning. I would ask someone what that was from. Not use it myself._

"How dare you still use that nickname here!" Yelled Weiss Schnee. _Yep, never willingly turning that on myself. Ever._

"I don't see why our location has anything to do with it," Blake said.

"If you get to leave your past behind because you're here, then I do too," Weiss said.

"Wait," I began, "What past? Does this have anything to do with Doctor I. pointing out your second set of ears?"

"No!" Blake turned and yelled at me.

"Yes!" Weiss turned and yelled at me.

Then Weiss looked _really_ guilty, and I almost felt bad for asking. Almost. "Blake, whatever it is, whatever past you had, I couldn't care less. I probably wouldn't understand it you told me anyway." She looked surprised, but noticeably calmer after that. "But I still want to know what the ear thing is."

She pulled off her bow.

Under her bow was another bow. _Wait. Did that bow just twitch- Oh those are ears! Yes!_ "Um okay, wow. So… Does everybody from your world have something like those?"

"No," came her answer. "Just faunus."

"Faunus. Are they considered human?"

"It's complicated."

Then Weiss spoke up, "Does anyone else find it strange that we're still here? In the compound." On cue, a dozen guards turned around the corner and pointed guns at us. With them was a man in a lab coat, not unlike the one Doctor I. was wearing when Ruby shot him.

"Hello esteemed guests, I am Doctor-" He was cut off.

Ruby began firing into the guards, who didn't have time to fire back. They were immediately cut down by Ruby's scythe gun. Doctor whatever perished along with them.

When all was said and done, I began, "Ruby, how old are you?" She turned to me.

"15, but I'll be sixteen soon."

"Are there a lot of fifteen year old killers where you come from?"

She looked at me, confused. "Their auras should have protected them. I shouldn't have killed anyone just doing that."

"My aura didn't protect me when I was hit by that semi. Their aura didn't protect them when they were by hit by your bullets. It's pretty simple actually. People here don't have aura."

Now she just stared at me, shock plastered on her face. "So I just…"

"We can talk about this later," Blake said, "For now we still need to get out of the compound. I can hear more people coming our way."

"With your human ears, or you cat ears?" I asked. There was no response.

"Follow me," Blake said. She began walking in one direction, came to a fork, and turned right.

"Wait, that's the wrong way," I said.

"Not if we want our weapons," Blake replied.

They all went right, and I was forced to follow them. We encountered no resistance all the way to where team RWBy's weapons were being held. They were in a normal gun rack in what you could call an armory. I'm not sure you would call it an armory, but you technically could.

The weapons themselves weren't anything special. In comparison to Ruby's that is. There were some yellow gauntlets that I assumed did something, a black sword in a rectangular sheath, and a rapier. Personally I wasn't a big fan or fencing, but I guessed some people could actually use fencing techniques in a real fight. I'd have to see it to believe it though.

As we exited what I was liberally calling the armory, we were cautious, just to make sure there were no more guards trying to kill us. Luckily for us, there weren't. Although I was a little confused as to where all the scientists went.

We came to the fork in the road once again. One path led out, and one path led farther in. One can guess which path we took. The path led through four more forks, through which Blake guided us. I'm still amazed she memorized the whole path backwards. _And that she wasn't knocked out_._ Whatever. Their loss._

Finally we exited the compound and reached the relative safety of the outdoors. I say relative for a reason. Outside were about thirty guards with automatic weapons pointed at us. 'Their aura should have protected them.' Well, I officially wasn't worried for my companions. Me on the other hand, or for that matter, the guards… Them I was a little worried about.

"Remember they don't have any aura to protect them. Be careful with them," I said.

"Last I checked you weren't the leader of this team, so I'll do whatever I feel the need to do until the _leader_ says otherwise. Besides, they owe me for putting us in that cell for no reason," Weiss replied.

"They owe their lives?" I asked.

She huffed, and looked like she wanted to say something else, but her _leader_ cut her off. "He's right guys. We can't go full strength on these people. We'll kill all of them."

As if they had been listening to the conversation (Oh yeah, they were.), the guards opened fire on us. The girls simply started spinning their weapons unimpressively, and the bullets that hit them instantly fell to the ground. Then they went on the offensive.

Weiss turned and pushed me to the ground before a white circle appeared under her feet and she launched forward into the guards, taking out a good many in one stroke. Then it was Ruby's turn to do the fighting. She pulled her scythe from left to right and took out multiple of the guards. Then she pulled it back and more guards fell. _Strange. There aren't any cut marks. I guess she really is holding back._

The guards had turned to shoot at the girls who were already in their ranks, but their bullets simply bounced off the girls' aura. Blake and Yang stood between me and the guards. I suppose they were guarding me from the barrage of bullets coming at us, but it wasn't really needed. All the guards had stopped shooting about twenty seconds into the fight. As usual, I stood there mouth agape waiting for it to end. I really shouldn't be surprised anymore.

About 10 more seconds into that and the fight was over. Then we all kind of stood there wondering what to do. We had in fact, no idea what to do or where to go. We had to get back to the school if we were to have any chance of getting the girls back home. The problem was, we had no transportation, and were in the middle of the woods.

**Alright, I'm really looking forward to reading reviews guys! So send me more... I've been surviving on just bread and water for a month. I need your reviews!**


	10. Reconciling Differences

**Yeah this was ready as soon as the last chapter was uploaded, but due to problems, it got uploaded a little later than I would have liked. By problems, I mean problems, and I've been binge watching ****_Arrow _****and ****_Flash_**** of late. They're both pretty good by the way. Flash is much lighter than arrow.**

**Anyway, the story. This is the whole reason for the Area Fifty One arc (Loosely calling it an arc). My beta told me it was a weird way to go about continuing the story, and that got me thinking. This was never really a story to begin with. It was really more of an idea that turned into a scenario. The only reason I've been putting these up is because people like them. So yeah, I haven't really put that much effort into the story bits, and you can see that just by knowing my upload schedule, but I ahve put time and effort into what might actually happen if some of this stuff happened. Just disregard the area fifty one thing,.. Anyway, I didn't know exactly how to phrase some of the chapter so if it's confusing, tell me. I'll fix it.**

In the middle of the woods with no transportation, and about 30 knocked out guards on our hands.

"So I guess we start walking," I said.

"Which direction?" Yang asked.

"Good point. Any ideas?"

My question was met by blank stares for a few seconds. "Well I guess we just pick a direction and follow it," Weiss said. "How about that way?" She asked, pointing straight ahead past the guards.

We were about to start walking off into the woods when we were all thrown to the ground by an invisible force. It was like a shockwave… _Oh shit._

"No fucking way. No, this is not happening," I stood back onto my feet to see a perfect circle in the mossy ground. As per usual, there was a small indent in the ground where the shockwave had hit. _You know, if these shockwaves were in any way dangerous, I would be dead by now_.

"No no no no. I can't believe this is happening. I thought you guys said there weren't any other people in your team."

As the girls got back to their feet, their faces turned from mere disbelief to absolute shock to straight confusion. I looked over to where they were looking, and suddenly, I realized. In the middle of the circle was a girl, not unlike before. In fact, it was so much like before, it gave off a distinct feeling of déjà vu. In the center of the circle was Ruby.

"Um," I heard Ruby say. The first Ruby that is. _Ruby one?_

"Yeah, 'um' is the right word for this," I said.

The Ruby in the small crater stood up and looked at us. Then she fainted.

"Um," Ruby said again.

"Yeah… So what do we do now?" I asked.

"I don't know. Aren't you like… Never supposed to see your clone or something?" Ruby asked.

"Well, the universe hasn't come crashing down on us yet so I think we're okay," Weiss said.

"Yeah, yeah, this is okay. This is good actually," Yang said.

"How so?" Blake asked.

"I don't know," Yang replied.

"Um okay then," I said, "So do we like pick her up and keep going?"

"No," Ruby said," What if the rest of her team comes through, and we miss them?"

"Good point. So we stay here and wait for them," I said. "By the way, how are feeling about this," I asked Ruby.

"Well, I guess it makes sense. You said we're from different universes where one thing is different right? So then there would be a lot of universes with different versions of us right?"

"You're a smart girl. I really hope a different me comes through. That would make things really tough."

"Hey, she's waking up!" Yang said.

The Ruby in the crater opened her eyes and slowly stood to look at us. She looked straight at Ruby and said, "Are you-"

"You."

The girl looked confused. I really couldn't blame her though. I mean really, no one else could possibly understand what was going on in her head. She had nowhere to pull from. And so she was confused.

"Ruby," Yang said.

The girl in the crater looked up at her, and suddenly got even more confused. "I'm your sister," yang said.

"Well, not your sister," our Ruby said. "She's my sister."

"But aren't we the same person?" Crater Ruby asked.

"Well, kestrel says we come from different universes, where one thing is different."

"At least one thing," I corrected. "In the beginning there might only be one thing, but then that thing changes other things and makes the whole universe completely different. Like how mine is different than yours."

"Right. So no, she's my sister. Your sister could be coming through at any moment though," Ruby one explained.

"I don't think so," Ruby 2 said.

"Wait," Yang started, "Why not?"

"Because my sister went missing a few days ago. No one has seen her since, but I think I just found her. Yang, take off your left earing."

I hadn't even realized she was wearing an earring. There was nothing on her right ear, which was facing me at the moment.

"You mean the one you gave me?"

"Exactly."

Oh shit. "Ruby 1. Did you give Yang an earring?"

She shook her head.

"Then I'm sorry, but this is not your sister. This Yang is from Ruby 2's universe."

Then something out of the ordinary happened. Or I guess it was something completely in the ordinary by now. Another shockwave hit, and we were all thrown to the ground. I really shouldn't need to explain that we were all thrown to the ground anymore. It's happened, what 6, times now?

I think we were all expecting someone else to come through. Blake probably, but really anyone but _her_. As far as weird things to happen, happening, this one really goes the extra mile. We all got up fairly quickly. This was everyone's 2nd (At least) time. What we saw in the new circle was a little confusing at first.

"Who…" And then the girl fainted. Probably from seeing two of her clones in front of her. Yeah, that's right. The new person was also Ruby. And then guess what happened. We had another shockwave.

And Ruby stepped out of the new crater. This time though, she didn't faint. She just closed her eyes, and opened them. As if expecting something different to be there when she opened them again. This Ruby was clearly different from Ruby 1, and even from Ruby 2. She seemed more willing to accept things. In a way. But that wasn't it, not completely.

I looked to the four girls standing next to me. They were in just as much awe as I was. I mean who could blame them? After being together through so much in just a few days, they find out that Yang is actually from a different universe, and there are more Ruby's. They have four leaders standing in front of them, and no one can be sure who's from whose universe. _And then there was that whole thing about Yang having gone missing in Ruby 2's universe… I'm not sure what to think about that._

Ruby 3 started to wake up, and I started to think this was getting a little too confusing. "Okay! Ruby 1, you stay just the way you are. Ruby 2, do something to your appearance that's different from normal. Ruby 3, you're just waking up so do something… Actually never mind, you're fine." As Ruby 3 stood up, I saw that there was a yellow streak in her hair. I didn't know why, but it was certainly identifiable. "Ruby 4, do something different from everyone else. We need to not get confused with the different universes. And Yang, do the same thing Ruby 2 does. That way we know you're both from the same universe."

"Does it really matter if which universe we're from?" Yang asked, "We're all the same person. Maybe Ruby 3 has a yellow streak in her hair, but she's still the same on the inside."

"But she's not. Ruby 4 didn't faint like the rest of you. That means something is different inside of her. Something not just in her appearance. And Ruby 3," I turned to Ruby 3, who had been standing silently and staring at Yang, "Why is that streak in your hair?"

"It's to remind me of Yang."

"Did something happen to her?"

"She was killed 2 years ago. It was bad, and I needed something to help me get through it. So I chose this," She motioned to her hair, "But now Yang is right there. So she can come back with me."

"No! Don't you get it? Each of your universes are changed a little bit. So each of you are changed a little bit. If Yang 2 goes home to universe 3, then universe 3 will be different again. You'll create another universe! It's simple quantum physics."

"Those words should never be used in the same sentence," Weiss said.

"Weiss, you've been quiet. And you too Blake."

"That's kind of her thing…" Ruby 4 said,

"Really? Not since she came here. She's been all kinds of talkative."

"Yeah what are you talking about? Blake's always been talkative. Ever since we met her," Ruby 3 said.

Ruby 1, 2, and 4 all said at once, "No she hasn't" And then they stared at each other, and laughed. Ruby 3 though, was not amused.

"So for you three, Blake has been quiet and brooding?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yep, pretty much," They answered again in unison.

"Okay okay," I started, "let's just calm down and think things through here. So Ruby 2 and Yang are from the same universe. So you guys go stand over there." They did as they were told, "We know Rubies 1, 2, and 4 aren't from the same universe as Blake. So we can assume Blake is from universe 3. You guys go stand over there," I pointed to a spot under a tall tree, and they went.

"So that leaves Ruby, Weiss, and Ruby 4. Ruby and Ruby 4 aren't from the same universe obviously. So it's just up to Weiss."

She nodded. I had to think on this for a little while. The only thing we know about Ruby 4 is that she didn't faint like the other 2 Rubies did when they came through. That means something, but I don't know what. _Could it be something about the earring? Maybe that's what's different in the universes. But the thing with Ruby 3 is that Yang's gone… So that's not it. _Then I thought back to what I had asked Ruby earlier today. I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm glad I did.

"Ruby 4. First of all I want to say I'm sorry to all of you for referring to you by what universe you're from. It just makes it easier to think about. So Ruby 4, how old are you?"

"17," She said.

_Gasp!_

Yes, that was a sound effect. I'm sorry.

"Ruby, you're fifteen right?" I asked.

She nodded

Then Ruby four spoke, "Then how did you meet Weiss and Blake? We met them at Beacon. How could you have gone to Beacon at all?"

"We got in 2 years early cause the headmaster saw us stopping a dust shop robbery." Ruby 2 responded.

"The one with the old guy? I just did that this year…" Ruby 4 said.

Ruby 3 said, "What about Torchwick? He would have been on the loose for 2 extra years then."

The rest of the Rubies looked at her, "But he's still on the loose. We didn't catch him."

_Yeah I don't see the difference there_.

Ruby 3 looked down, "Oh right. I guess that's where we separated paths then. Yang and I stopped the dust robbery from taking place. But Yang didn't make it. There was an explosion, and she never came back. That's why I have this yellow streak."

"That's so crazy," Yang said, "It's so crazy hearing your sister say that you're dead when you're standing right in front of her."

"I know it's hard to think about," I said, "But she's not your sister. Not anymore. Not since you died in her universe. That's when you split paths, and that's when you stopped being her sister."

Yang looked positively dejected. That might be an oxymoron, but I don't really care.

"Okay, so Weiss, you go with Ruby 1, and Ruby 4, you just stay where you-"

"For fuck's sake!" All around us trees started falling, and people were knocked over or sent flying. This time I saw it coming, and I dropped to the ground before the damn things hit me. I lost count of how many shockwaves there were at 7. _This is pissing me off now. We just got everything sorted out._

**Leave me some reviews guys.**


End file.
